


Oracle

by WarlordFelwinter



Series: Destiny / OC-centric [10]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-19 23:03:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22072402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlordFelwinter/pseuds/WarlordFelwinter
Summary: backstory for my most terribly self-indulgent special snowflake of a destiny character
Series: Destiny / OC-centric [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/883587
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. The Distributary

An overactive imagination, was what their mother said. A perfectly reasonable imagination, was what their father said. Pythia had never been certain. Even when they were young enough that Delphi was her sister, she had known there was something odd about him. He always had the best pretend games, the best stories. She used to say that he stole all the imagination from her while they were in the womb.

As teenagers, she began to be unsure. He said he saw things in dreams, and that was where he got the stories. Impossible, amazing things. Her dreams were never so visceral as his. But, perhaps, she just didn't have his imagination. She took after their mother and eagerly joined the Corsairs when she was of age, hoping to eventually become one of Prince Uldren's Crows. And Delphi took after their father, taking up his interest in history and joining him at the academy.

During her training as a Corsair, Pythia wasn't able to go home. She kept in touch with her twin and learned—through Delphi's somewhat annoyed letters—that their parents had taken him to a number of doctors and psychiatrists, after he had gone through a strange bout of hallucinations. He insisted he had just been tired and daydreaming. Once again, Pythia was uncertain, but she agreed with him. He needed someone on his side.

Every time Pythia journeyed home, Delphi excitedly shared with her stories from their fathers ancient texts. Stories of places he longed to visit. She knew how dangerous the system outside the Distributary was, and she told him so in her own stories of the adventures she'd had. Not that it mattered. There were strict laws that would keep him from ever leaving. And he pretended to be resigned to that truth.

Once she came home and their parents were gone, and they would always be gone, after that. Away on a research trip, ambushed by Fallen. She stayed for a long time, then, unwilling to leave her brother alone. He was so much quieter. He stopped talking about leaving. He stopped talking about almost anything. And he pretended he was fine.

He was good at pretending, she thought, as she watched him pouring himself a cup of tea. He had always been good at pretending. He smiled at her, but his gaze was distant. He had been especially distant today and she was fed up with it. Delphi might be perfectly happy daydreaming all day, but she wanted to go _do_ something.

She opened her mouth to say so, when ceramic shattered. Delphi braced himself on the back of a chair as his legs gave out. He held himself for a moment before collapsing completely.

"What the hell?" Pythia exclaimed, standing up and darting around the table, finding her brother thrashing on the floor, his eyes wide and glowing solid white. Her mind went blank, terrified, and her training took over, her hands moving of their own accord to roll him onto his side and clear away the shattered cup so he didn't accidentally hurt himself.

Pythia fumbled to find her phone, grabbing it off the table. She pressed the emergency button and asked for a doctor. Her other hand hadn't left Delphi's arm. His seizing stilled and he went limp.

"Delphi? Can you hear me?"

He was breathing, but didn't respond, eyes still wide and wrong. His lips moved, barely whispering out a constant string of words. Half sentences and nonsense and languages she had never heard. He shuddered and fell quiet, eyes closing, just as the medics transmatted into the house.

"What happened?" one asked, as they hurried over and immediately started checking Delphi's vitals.

"He had a seizure, I think," Pythia said. "But his eyes were like... white. Bright white. Completely."

One of the medics placed a scanner against his forehead and it beeped. "Whoa," she said. "That's... new."

"What is?" Pythia asked. "Is he all right?"

"His vitals are steady," the first said, looking at the scanner. "But there's some sort of unknown radiation in his system." They tapped their earpiece. "Prepare a quarantine room." He looked at Pythia. "We'll have to take both of you in, to make sure it isn't dangerous."

Pythia nodded. She wasn't eager to be anywhere but at her brother's side at the moment, anyway. One of the medics called in a transmat and a moment later she found herself standing in a hospital quarantine room. The two medics lifted Delphi into the bed and began attaching monitors. Pythia sat down in one of the chairs, listening to the slow beep that started up. She watched as they attached some sort of device to his head and watched patterns play out on a screen, and their talk dissolved into things that were out of her knowledge. As far as she could determine, Delphi's mind was far more active than it ought to be.

The strange radiation readings had vanished in a few minutes and the quarantine was loosened. Pythia was given leave to come and go as she pleased, after she was checked for any similar readings. She left briefly to get herself the biggest cup of coffee she could find before returning to the room. A few more doctors came and went, taking notes and checking things, before deciding the best course was to wait for Delphi to wake up. They assured Pythia they would be alerted to any changes and come quickly, and then left her alone.

She looked over at her twin and exhaled slowly. She stood up and walked over to the bedside. "Wake up, idiot," she said. "You know, you're _definitely_ never going to leave the Distributary if you go into a coma."

He didn't react, but she could see his eyes moving rapidly under his lids. Dreaming. She wondered what he was dreaming about. Pythia sat on the edge of the bed, waiting and watching. She waited for a good hour before Delphi's face contorted slightly and he let out a soft noise, slowly opening his eyes. They were back to their normal golden glow.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Pythia said, wondering how easily she could convince him he had been in a coma for a year.

"Stop shouting," Delphi whispered, looking distressed. "Why is it so loud in here?"

"What do you mean?" Pythia asked, lowering her voice, all thoughts about pranking him gone.

Delphi thrashed, grabbing his head and crying out in pain. Colors and patterns flashed on the monitor and the beeping of his heart sped up rapidly. The door opened and two doctors rushed in, shooing her away from the bed. Delphi screamed. One of the doctors jabbed a needle into his neck and his thrashing subsided. He fell back onto the pillows, heart slowing again as the sedative kicked in. The doctors murmured to each other for a moment, pointing at various readings on the monitor, and then Pythia heard one say,

"Summon a techeun."

The other nodded and left.

"Why do you need a techeun?" Pythia asked. She had seen the witches a few times, and had never talked with any of them. She knew they were powerful, but they gave her the creeps.

The doctor looked at her. "Some sort of energy keeps coming and going from his system. I don't believe this is a medical problem and I think it would be in his best interest to get their opinion. In the meantime, we're running every test we can think of on his blood. We will do our best to find you an answer."

She left again. Pythia looked at her brother. His eyes were open but heavy and unfocused. He shifted slightly and muttered something under his breath. Pythia sighed, walking back over to her chair and sitting down. Her coffee was cold, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

* * *

When the techeun showed up, she dismissed Pythia from the room, demanding space to assess Delphi's condition. Pythia sat outside, staring at the patterned tile of the floor. An hour passed, during which she cried until she couldn't anymore, and then went and got herself another coffee. And then the door finally reopened and the techeun beckoned Pythia inside.

After she closed the door behind them, she said,

"I've made arrangements to transfer him to the Dreaming City."

Pythia jerked her head up. "What? Why?"

"I've reviewed his file. His current condition was the natural progression of the hallucinations he was in for before. His mind is connected to something far more powerful than he can handle. He told me of things he had no way of knowing and the Queen wishes his condition to be studied further. We will take good care of him, and we will train him to control his mind." She paused. "This may be hard, but it is his best chance. If this progresses further, it will drive him insane, or kill him."

Pythia stared at her brother, who was sleeping again. She didn't realize how long she had remained silent until the techeun prompted her for a response.

"He is in no state to consent to the transfer, and you are his only known next of kin."

Pythia inhaled, lifting her head. She was crying again, she realized. She nodded, wiping her eyes. She didn't understand what was happening, but she knew Delphi couldn't handle this on his own. Even if she never saw him again, at least he would have help.

"Take him with you."


	2. The Dreaming City

Delphi lay deliberately still. No position eased the pain in his head, but movement made him feel sick. It was better, at least, than the past few days when his head had been filled with a thousand voices screaming in different languages. He saw so much all at once. The techeuns had begun to teach him how to meditate. At the moment, he was heavily drugged on sedatives to quiet his mind while he rested. He was still awake, but everything moved slowly and seemed outlined in light. It seemed funny, for some reason, but he didn't laugh. There was music playing and incense burning, only adding to the distorted atmosphere.

Voices echoed in the hallway and the door opened.

"How is he coming along?" The voice warbled strangely and Delphi had a brief vision of a bird.

"Slowly, your Grace." Someone approached and he felt a hand on his face. A light shone into his eyes and he winced, pulling back slightly. "His power is not the same as ours. We attempted to break the connection but we couldn't, so we are trying to teach him to control it. We can only teach so much, the rest will be up to him."

"What do you see?" the first voice asked, less distorted. The pain spiked. The sedative was wearing off.

"A wolf made of iron," he muttered. He looked up and tried to focus on his visitors. Sharp blue eyes and pale hair. "It's a bird but not a crow. More graceful." He laughed. "What is he talking about? Did you see what Efrideet did?"

"It's—"

""—difficult to understand him—""

Delphi felt a small prick in his neck and his mind fogged over again.

"Apologies, your Grace. He's often like this. We hope if we can teach him to clear his mind, he will be able to give us a better picture of what he's going through."

"I trust your judgement," the soft voice murmured. "Keep me updated."

"Of course, your Grace."

* * *

"It is called the Oracle Engine..."

Delphi stepped into the room, lips parting in a small gasp and eyes widening to take in the scene before him. An orrery of massive scale, rotating platforms and ever-changing stars wreathed in purple light. The woman next to him watched him as he looked around in awe, her icy blue gaze seeming almost amused.

"Built from the death of a techeun, it is used to move between planes of reality. I wonder if it might help you."

Delphi looked at Mara, confused, but uncertain if he was allowed to voice it. He had met with the Queen a few times now, but the techeuns had always been present, letting him sit quietly while they discussed his mental state. This time, she had come to his quarters by herself and asked him to walk with her. It was nerve-racking, to say the least.

She gestured forward to the edge of the platform they stood on.

"The techeuns are uncertain where your power comes from. Perhaps you can use the Oracle Engine to find it," she clarified.

Delphi stepped forward to the edge of the platform and knelt, wondering what sort of test this was. He doubted the Queen was just being helpful for no reason. He took a breath and closed his eyes, settling into the breathing pattern the techeuns had taught him. Normally, when he meditated, he concentrated on the balance of light and dark within himself. It was wildly out of balance, the light heavily outweighing the dark, which they suspected was what was causing his trouble.

Now, he tried to listen to the Oracle Engine. He could feel its bizarre energy tugging at his mind. He resisted for a moment, instinctively clinging to the control he'd been taught, until his curiosity got the better of him and he loosened his grip, letting the Oracle in.

Immediately, his perception of reality shifted. Mara and the Dreaming City vanished and he flitted through thousands of places and times, seeing only glimpses of things he barely understood—armored figures wreathed in flame; a massive, sinuous shape shifting under the ice; a network of structures appearing and vanishing as reality changed and changed; absolute choking darkness.

Through it all he followed a strand of light. He could feel the source at the end of it, calling him, and his chest ached. It had always been calling him, since the moment he had been born. He could almost reach it. Almost see it. It was brighter and brighter, burning in his veins. The pain mounted as he reached out, pressure building in his temples.

All at once it burst and he was thrown back into the present, physically flung away from the Oracle Engine as a wave of energy flashed out from it. The pain in his head spiked and he stared at the floor, watching blood drip from his nose onto the tile. The movement of the orrery slowed back into its normal pattern of rotation and the pain eased enough for him to sit up. He wiped the blood off his face and looked up to see Mara watching him, her face impassive with just a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"I… I don't know," Delphi said. "I saw a lot. There was a light… pulling me. I got close but… it was too much. Too bright. I'm sorry."

Mara blinked. "You've done nothing to disappoint me," she said, not offering to help as Delphi got unsteadily back to his feet. She beckoned and they left the room together, walking back down the stairs and outside.

"Do you remember anything you said?" Mara asked as they walked.

"No." He didn't realize he'd been talking at all. "The techeuns tell me I say all sorts of things when I'm in a state like that, but I can never remember. It's all just light to me."

"You said many things, some of which even I did not understand," she said. "It remains to be seen if they were of any consequence."

They transmatted back to Rheasilvia, and Mara left him to his own devices, promising they would speak again soon. Delphi headed straight back to his room, looking forward to relaxing with a cup of tea. He hardly acknowledged the corsair who was walking a patrol past the cathedral, until she called his name.

"Delphi?"

He turned and she pulled her helmet off, exposing a familiar face and one that he had never expected to see again after he'd woken up in the Dreaming City. He grinned, running over to her. Pythia scooped him up in a tight hug, lifting him off his feet until he kicked her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Working," she said, gesturing at her uniform. "What are _you_ doing? There's blood all over your face."

"I was just going home. The Queen took me to the Oracle Engine and it… didn't go great, I don't think."

Pythia sighed. "You should probably go to a doctor, dummy," she said.

"I have one," he said, pointing back toward the cathedral where the techeuns lived. Pythia looked up at the crystalline structure and then returned her gaze to him. He recognized the look on her face, one that meant she had about a thousand questions that she was going to ask later, once the immediate was taken care of.

"You have your own doctor?"

"A few."

She shook her head. "Okay, let's go inside. You look like you need to sit down."

Delphi nodded, letting Pythia guide him into the building and up the stairs to his little apartment. In his excitement at seeing her he had forgotten how exhausted he was, but it came flooding back as he opened the door. He sat down on his bed and ran a hand over the console by the door that would summon one of the doctors that occasionally checked in on him. Pythia immediately set to snooping around his room, while Delphi cleaned the dried blood off his face.

"How have you been?" she asked, flopping down in a chair and lounging with her legs over the arm. "Besides going on dates with the Queen."

Delphi decided to ignore that. "I've been… meditating. A lot. And taking _a lot_ of sedatives. It's been… uh…" He faltered. "What about you? The techeuns told me they brought me here after what happened at home, but… I don't really remember anything."

"I managed to get transferred here after you did," she said. "I was hoping I could keep an eye on you, but they wouldn't tell me where you were or what was going on. It was infuriating."

Delphi smiled. "This place must be boring for you, compared to going out into space."

"Oh, definitely," Pythia said, shrugging. "But I'm hoping I can become a Queensguard or something and get Prince Uldren's attention so he'll make me a Crow. Maybe you can put a word in for me?"

"I can try," Delphi said. "But I don't think he likes me."

Pythia groaned, tipping her head back. "What did you do?"

"Nothing! I've never even talked to him. But I've been in the same room a couple times and the _looks_ he gives me—" He broke off as the door opened and a doctor and a techeun stepped in. The doctor glanced curiously at Pythia and then walked over to him.

"What happened? We were wondering where you'd wandered off to," she said.

"I was with the Queen," Delphi said. "She took me to the Oracle Engine." The techeun tilted her head slightly at that, though her expression was difficult to read behind her veil. "I'm not sure what happened, but I got a nosebleed and a headache."

The doctor placed her scanner against his forehead and it beeped a few times as she cycled through various readings. "It doesn't look like you've done any permanent damage. Just try to take it easy for a few days." She opened her bag and pulled out a syringe, tipping Delphi's head to the side and pressing the needle into his neck. "For the headache," she said, as the pain almost immediately began to ease. "I'll be back in the morning to see how you're feeling."

She left and the techeun followed, for which Delphi was relieved. He had expected to be chastised for neglecting his training, but Mara's judgement outweighed that of the techeuns. Pythia stood up.

"Since you didn't give yourself an aneurysm, you wanna go get dinner to celebrate?"

"Aren't you working?"

She waved a dismissive hand. "I'll deal with that later. Come on, I found the best cafe the other day, it's not too far from here..."


	3. The Dreaming City II

"Oracle..."

The voice came with a scoff as Delphi stepped off the platform, still a little dazed from the transition between planes. He looked up to see Uldren Sov leaning in the doorway, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. He startled slightly and dipped into a quick bow, trying to be polite. He still wasn't sure what he had done to get on the Prince's bad side, but maybe he could get out of it. Judging by the look Uldren was giving him, he doubted he would make someone who looked exactly like Delphi into a Crow.

"Did you need something, my Prince?" he asked, as he straightened up.

Uldren made a noise that was almost a laugh, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I doubt you could do anything for me." He pushed himself off the door frame and walked over. "Just answer something for me… What is it you've done to gain my sister's favor?" he asked. "You're no one, as far as I can tell. A techeun pet. And yet… the Queen invited you into her Court and gave you a place there. She invented a new title for you that is evidently one of high honor, but no one knows _why_. So, _Queen's Oracle_ , what are you?"

Delphi held his suspicious gaze for only a moment before looking away, wondering how to answer. The entire situation was as baffling to him as it was to Uldren. As far as Mara had told him, the things he had said during his trip through the Oracle Engine had come true. He had, somehow, seen the future. There had been a few more trials since then, not using the orrery, where he had allowed himself to fall back into that light in his mind and someone recorded the riddles he spat out. They were accurate, if often in unexpected ways. Delphi, himself, didn't know what to make of it. Now that he had sufficient control of his mind and his abilities, the only thing he longed to do was leave the Dreaming City and chase that light. Find out what was calling him.

Instead of allowing him to leave, the Queen had given him a title and a place in the court and ornate robes. He could hardly blame Uldren for being confused.

"If the Queen hasn't told you, I'm not sure I'm allowed to," he said, finally. If Mara hadn't even told her brother about Delphi, it was probably best not to go running his mouth about being prophetic.

Uldren's gaze hardened. "You arrogant little—"

Delphi danced backward a few steps, panicked, and opened his mouth, saying the first thing that came to mind.

"Do you want to know how you'll die?"

Uldren halted, taken aback for a moment. "Are you _threatening_ me?" he demanded.

"No," Delphi said, internally screaming at himself to stop talking. "Oracle isn't a meaningless title. I've seen it. I can tell you when it will happen, and where, and how."

Uldren stared at him, struggling to come up with a reply. He backed up, expression tightening before he exhaled sharply and spun on his heel, stalking out of the Oracle Engine. Delphi's legs gave out as soon as he was gone and he sank to the ground, giggling nervously. There was certainly no way Pythia was becoming a Crow now. He decided not to tell her and took a few moments to sit on the floor and let his heart slow down.

* * *

"Where have you gone, my Oracle?"

Mara's voice came to him, muffled and distant, echoing in Delphi's mind as he traversed the light, chasing it toward its terminus. With effort, he pulled himself back, closing his mind to the branching pathways and opening his eyes to the present. He was kneeling on the floor of the Queen's court, alone in the space with Mara. When he had started his journey, she had been meeting with several other members of the court. He had drifted off, assuming he wouldn't be needed.

He looked up at the Queen in her throne and found her watching him curiously.

"You left again," she said. "This marks the sixth time you have drifted off during an audience."

"Merely lost in thought, my Queen," Delphi replied. "I apologize."

"Where is it you go?" she asked. "Despite all I have given you, your mind longs to be somewhere else."

Delphi looked down, guilt resting in his stomach. He sighed. As usual, Mara was right. Despite everything she had done for him, he wanted nothing more than to follow that light.

"There is something calling me," he said. "I can never quite reach it, but I want… I need to know."

She looked at him, saying nothing for a long moment, until Delphi was sure she was going to chastise him for wanting more. Instead, she lifted her chin slightly and looked away, up at the stars.

"What is it you want, my Oracle? Speak your mind."

Delphi hesitated. "I wish to leave, your grace."

She tilted her head. "Forever?"

"I don't know."

Mara stood, and Delphi stood in response as she walked over to him. She pulled a pendant out of her pocket and put it over his head.

"A gift, then," she said. "Should you ever wish to return, this will grant you entry back into the Dreaming City."

Delphi looked down at the token—a crystal carved in the shape of the goddess. He could feel the light and darkness within it, in perfect balance. He met Mara's gaze, surprised by the gesture.

"The Corsairs will grant you a ship," she said, opening the door back to the Dreaming City. "Find what you are looking for, and return to us," she murmured.

Delphi exhaled, excitement starting to build in his stomach. He quickly bowed. "Thank you, my queen," he said breathlessly, wasting no time in running through the door, back into the orerry, and sprinting back to the nexus to transmat to Rheasilvia.

It took little time for him to stuff his few meager possessions into a bag and change into better traveling clothes than his robes. He hurried back to the nexus, going through into the hangar, where he was quickly grabbed by Pythia.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "I just got a call that I'm supposed to prepare a jumpship for the Oracle."

Delphi beamed. "The Queen's letting me leave, to find the light."

"You're leaving? For good?" she asked, dismayed.

His smile faded somewhat. "Not for good. I just need to find what's calling to me. Once I do, I'll come back."

She sighed. "I know this is important to you, so I'm not going to complain, but promise me you'll be careful. It's dangerous outside the Distributary."

"I promise," Delphi said.

"Come on, then, you've got one of the royal ships." She led him through the hangar to a docked jumpship, emblazoned with the queen's sigil, and took him aboard.

Delphi dropped his bag in the cabin and ducked through into the cockpit.

"Now, you've flown something like this before," Pythia said, "but this one is going to be a little faster. It might take a while to get used to, just take it slow."

Delphi nodded.

"And, since you clearly didn't think about it..." She unslung her rifle and handed it over. "If you're going outside our borders, you'll need this. There's armor in the hold. Promise me you'll wear it."

"I promise," Delphi said, looking at the gun. He knew how to use it, although it had been a while since he had held one. Their mother had taught them both how to shoot as children.

"Last thing," Pythia said, and pulled out a camera, tugging Delphi to her side and taking a picture. It printed out and she scribbled down a note on it and taped it to the window. "So you don't forget me while you're off having your grand adventure."

"Don't be ridiculous, I could never forget you," Delphi said, hugging her. She returned it, tightly, pushing her face against his shoulder.

"Just… come back, all right?" she said, stepping back. "Don't make me come after you."


	4. Io

The light was everywhere. Pooling on the ground under strange terraformed plateaus and arches, glimmering in the clouds, calling, calling, calling.

Delphi had brought his jumpship down in a few places on the strange yellowish planet, finding pools of radiance and trying to divine some sort of meaning from their ripples. It was strange. It was the light that had been calling to him, he could feel it, but it also felt wrong. Too quiet. Disconnected. His visions were stronger here, but more chaotic, and he could glean nothing from them.

He had found no life on this planet yet, apart from strange birds and small mammals. Nothing sapient. Nothing that could have constructed the bizarre shapes he had seen around the light. He set his ship into a low orbit and meditated for hours, trying to follow that thread. It was knotted, here. Confused.

And then he saw something new.

Delphi angled the ship back down, coming in to hover in front of a massive, dark structure. A pyramid. He set the ship down on a nearby plateau and put on the set of corsair armor in the hold, grabbing Pythia's rifle. He left the ship, climbing down into the valley in front of the pyramid. As he approached the circular door, everything was quiet. There was something about this entire planet that felt abandoned. As if something terrible had happened and Delphi was just walking amongst the ghosts.

A few of the panels in the door were ajar and he slipped inside, taking a flashlight out of his pocket and clicking it on when he was confronted with darkness. He shone it around, taking in the cavernous, smooth architecture.

The further he moved inside, following branching pathways that he marked down in a notebook, he encountered no signs of life. Whoever had built this pyramid seemed to have disappeared. The closest thing he found were several strange dormant machines. Humanoid in a way, and completely nonresponsive. He left them alone and moved on.

He found himself, eventually, in a massive cavern, looking down a slope toward a lake. This place seemed bigger than it should have inside and he wondered if he was far underground, or if there was some unknown technology distorting the dimensions. He found a place to sit and rest, listening to the various echoes, clatters of rocks shifting and the gentle ripples of the strange lake. It wasn't water. It was white, but not the light. It had a greenish hue, sparking with some sort of energy.

He hummed, making sketches and taking notes about what he'd seen, drawing what conclusions he could about the civilization that must have built this structure and what it could have been used for. It was done with a nostalgic sort of sadness, wishing his father could have seen this.

Quite suddenly, lights flared on, racing patterns in the floors, coming from the lake. The distant, distorted sound of machinery powering on echoed through the chamber and Delphi stood up, astonished. He turned and watched as a white portal opened. One of the mechanisms stepped through, its eye now glowing red. It seemed to look at him almost curiously, as if wondering where he'd come from.

"Hello," Delphi said.

It let out a discordant noise in response and lifted an arm, metal shifting to reveal something that looked to be a weapon.

"Oh," Delphi said, readying his rifle. "I'm not a threat! I'm not here to hurt anything, just exploring!"

It fired at him, a bolt of crackling electricity, and he had moved a moment before. He hadn't felt the light in here at all, but suddenly it was pounding in his head. || DANGER. RUN ||

He took a few shots at the mechanism, guessing to aim at the white box in its middle. It exploded and two more came through more portals. Delphi took off running for the exit and the cooridor closed in his face. He spun around, looking for another way out and found himself confined in a cage of burning lasers. The robots stopped firing at him, simply waiting.

Another portal opened and a larger machine stepped through, at least ten feet tall, with metal horns and two tails lashing methodically behind it. It tilted its head, looking at the trapped Awoken.

"I-I'm no threat," Delphi said. "Please, I didn't mean to trespass, I didn't realize anyone lived here. I'll leave! Please, just let me go and I'll leave!"

The machine leveled a rifle at him and Delphi closed his eyes, thinking about his promise to Pythia to come home safe. There was a flash, a burst of electricity, and then darkness.

* * *

The Ghost zipped through the ajar door on the Pyramidion, following the tiny trace of Light. She kept her lights dim, flying quickly and silently through the halls, well aware of what a dangerous place she was in. It was really her luck, she thought. It had been so long since she'd been born. She'd watched thousands of other Ghosts go off and get their Guardians and had assumed she would never get hers. And she hadn't cared. She had a perfectly good life at the Tower, helping where she could.

And now this. She was hunting through the Pyramidion following an insistent call from her future Guardian. What had they done to end up down here? Was she even following her Guardian, or was this some sort of Vex trap? She would be cautious, but she had to know, if only to get rid of the noise.

She traveled ever downward through changing halls, past dormant Vex, hoping they wouldn't wake up. Eventually, she found herself in a sort of laboratory. Brakion, itself, was dormant in the corner, surrounded by impeccably clean remnants of experiments. The little that the Vanguard knew about the Genesis Mind suggested it enjoyed experimentation, but Athena had never suspected it would have a laboratory.

The Light was calling her toward something that looked like a cryopod on the other side of the room. Veins of radiolarian led away from it, into the wall, and as she got closer, Athena saw a figure inside.

She moved over to the computer and fiddled with the controls, opening the pod. The glass folded away with a hiss, clouds of mist rolling out onto the floor. She hovered in front of the body in the pod, wondering what use the Vex would have for a dead Awoken man. Why would Brakion bother preserving a corpse?

Well, she figured, it didn't matter. Now that she was in front of him, she could clearly feel the pull. This was her Guardian. She scanned him, connecting to his innate Light and preparing to restructure him. She startled backward slightly at the results she got. His blood had been entirely replaced by radiolarian. She moved closer again, taking a deeper scan.

From what she could tell from her impromptu autopsy, the radiolarian infusion had been what killed the Awoken man. A slightly horrifying thought, as it meant he had been alive when it had been done.

Athena shifted her shell and started rebuilding. The body in front of her dissolved as she put him back together. His mind lingered, reluctant to pull from the wires that had been connected to his skull, but Athena yanked it back into his new body as he fell to his knees.

He sat, unmoving, staring at the floor. Athena floated down to look at him, taking another scan. She had tried to clean his blood, but it hadn't worked. Radiolarian still pumped through his veins, Vex nanites coming back to life and struggling against the Light for dominance, quickly subdued by an incredibly powerful amount of Light.

He shuddered. Athena vanished, settling herself into his neural pathways, startled by the amount of activity she found. As far as she could tell, his thoughts were quiet, but his brain was wildly active, lighting up as though he was hearing something she couldn't.

 _[ Come on, on your feet, ]_ she said. _[_ _Don't freak out. I'm your ghost. I'm here to help. We need to get out of here without waking up Brakion. ]  
_

He flinched, looking back at the Genesis Mind. A few broken thoughts flitted through where Athena could hear them. _Test. Can't breathe. Pain. Can't see. Still alive, why?_

He held out a hand, as if he was manipulating something, and opened a triangular portal. The action awoke Brakion, who powered on and made an alarmed noise. The Awoken man stood, practically falling through the portal. It closed behind him as he collapsed, staring up at the Io sky, breathing hard.

Athena reappeared, hovering over him. He stared at her with irises bleached white by the poison in his veins. The lights that roved under his skin were erratic, not graceful like those of the Awoken she was used to. Skittering and sparking like the surface of a radiolarian pool.

Before she could speak, he tensed, light flaring up under his skin, eyes blazing solid white. He screamed, thrashing, and Athena startled back, uncertain what to do. From her scans, she didn't think there was anything physically wrong with him. The Vex nanites had settled under the influence of the Light and his vitals were normal.

The Light, though… It was familiar to her in a way that a guardian's Light wasn't. It was the Traveler's Light. Pure and barely contained by the Guardian in front of her, writhing in pain on the yellow stone.

He curled up, holding his head, and whispering under his breath. Broken strings of nonsense, muttering names he shouldn't know. Athena looked around, spotting an old Awoken ship on a nearby plateau. It was grown over with plants, scuffed and weathered by time. It bore the markings of the Queen and she looked back at her guardian, who was wearing Corsair armor. It must be his ship.

"Stay put for a second," she said, zipping over to the ship and letting herself inside. It took her a few moments to hack into the controls and start the ship. She found a photo taped on the window in front of the controls, of identical Awoken twins. One looked like her Guardian, in structure, though in the picture his skin was a pale blue and his hair was dark, eyes golden. Not the shades of grey and white and sparkling pale green that he was now. There was a note scribbled along the bottom of the photo.

_Don't forget me, ok? -P_

Near it hung a necklace, a pendant of crystal carved in the shape of a woman, radiating with energy.

Athena transmatted her Guardian inside, hearing his alarmed noise from the cabin. She went through and found that he had shoved himself into a corner, still gripping his head like he was trying to keep it from falling apart.

"You all right? I think this must have been your ship. Still works and the Vex haven't stripped it for parts. Lucky for us! We can make it back to the City."

He didn't reply, except for a low keening noise.

"It's all right if you can't remember—"

""—memory loss is normal for new Guardians—""

Athena backed up a little as he spoke over her. He didn't seem to realize he'd done it.

"—to the City, Petra—No word from Saint—found nightmares—" he chattered, then said something in Eliksni and laughed uncertainly.

Athena hummed. She went back to the cockpit, taking control of the ship and lifting it into orbit. Before she jumped to Earth, she made a call. A moment passed and then she heard the Speaker's voice, clearly having just woken up.

_"Athena, it's good to hear from you. I was wondering where you'd gone."_

"To Io," she said. "To find my Guardian. I found him, but… something's wrong. The Genesis Mind did terrible things to him that I can't fix and there's… it's his Light. It's strange. Too strong. He keeps talking about things he shouldn't know. I don't know what to do."

The Speaker was quiet a moment. _"Bring him to me."_


	5. The Last City

_He is weaving. Unweaving. Untangling. Tangling. It keeps changing. He holds strands of lights in his hands, focused on the knot in front of him, trying to ignore the mess they lead to, surrounding him like a nest of flickering. Changing. Breathing, speaking, screaming. Gunfire, howling, praying. Growing darker. Is the sun setting, or going out? Trust him. Who? My Oracle. My Oracle. A woman on a throne. A bird. A crow. Light and darkness held in unbalance. Tangled. He is still weaving but there is nothing in his hands._

He knelt in front of a window, uncertain how he got there, looking out over a dark city underneath a massive globe that floated, dormant, in the sky. Delphi had never seen it before but he knew it. _Calling, calling, always calling, now silent._ Almost mocking. Delphi frowned, with an anger he couldn't remember.

He stood in a room and he had just gotten there. There was a figure in front of him. A mask he knew but had never seen. He trusted him with a trust that was not his own, but he couldn't speak. He turned toward the window, moving against his will to look out at what he had already seen. He dropped to his knees, hand on the glass, staring at the silent observer with an anger that was his but he couldn't remember.

"All this way you called me, for what?" he asked, not sure what he was talking about. "Explain yourself."

He knew it wouldn't, because this had already happened. It never spoke. He pressed the heels of his hands against closed eyes, trying in vain to drive away the visions. He stood and turned before he stood.

"It trusts you, trusts you," he said, overrunning himself. He shook his head. "You hear it too, don't you?" The pain in his head was building. The thought that someone else might know how it felt brought him to tears. "You hear it."

The masked figure tilted his head slightly. "What's your name?" he asked. His voice was soft. Calm and collected. A bell that tolled in Delphi's mind, sending ripples out that quieted everything for a moment.

"Delphi, I-I think. I can't remember." _Delphi. My Oracle._

_"I'm the Speaker." He is closer, now, wary._

He stepped closer, almost wary, but hiding it well. "That's all right," he said. "Your memory will return to you eventually. I'm—"

"The Speaker," Delphi said.

"Yes. How did you know that?"

_"What did you mean, when you said you should trust me?"_

"You said it already." He shook his head. "It told me to trust you." He pointed out the window and another time his hand didn't move from his side.

It changed, again. He needed to stop overrunning it. The pain in his head spiked and his legs gave out. He thought he hit the table but at the same time he had been caught by the masked figure and at the same time he was somewhere else entirely, and then it all went black.

* * *

"I screened another call from Ikora."

The Speaker glanced at the Ghost. Their name was Ansel and they had been with him for a few months. "I'll assume it wasn't an emergency?" he questioned, picking up his tea and walking over to the window. The Ghost sighed.

"No, but you know she's going to break down your door one of these days. Eventually you're going to have to explain why you didn't leave your quarters for a month."

"It won't be that long," he said. It had only been a week. "Have a little faith."

"You have far too much for all of us," they said, turning sharply at a small noise. The Speaker followed their gaze to the unconscious Awoken man on his bed.

Delphi had woken sporadically over the past week, though he had never been lucid, seeming to just unwillingly vocalize whatever passed through his mind. Things he shouldn't know, languages even the Speaker had never heard. After Athena had told him the entire story about what she had found in the Pyramidion and how much of Delphi remained Vex, he had started to be concerned that he was still connected to their network and subconsciously streaming information from it.

Which, of course, was what Ansel was so concerned about. Athena had practically begged him to shelter Delphi from the Vanguard and the Speaker had agreed, albeit hesitantly. If he was still connected to the Vex, he was a danger to the City. And that was Athena's fear. That the Vanguard would see him as a danger and cage him or exile him. From what the Speaker had seen, Delphi wouldn't survive a day outside the City.

But it didn't matter, not really. The look on Delphi's face, as he had teared up, asking in a shaking voice if the Speaker heard the voice too.

He had spent so long looking for another. He had still hoped Saint would return, or that he would hear from Efrideet, but part of him had given up. Part of him had come to terms with the fact that he was the last.

_It told me to trust you._

Delphi was a Speaker, of that he was certain, but there was something broken about him. Athena had told him about what had happened outside the Pyramidion, and he had seen it himself now. The way Delphi was almost possessed by the Traveler's Light. Strong and pure, not diluted the way it should be in a Ghost or Guardian. It caused him untold pain and the Speaker wished he knew how to help. Wished the Traveler would tell him how to help.

|| he needs to wake up ||

He startled, dropping his tea, gaze shooting to the mask that sat on a nearby table. The cup shattered and Delphi lurched awake at the noise. He tried to scramble out of the bed and fell onto the floor, tangled in the sheets and the Speaker could hear Athena trying to talk to him. Ansel cleaned the mess while the Speaker hurried to Delphi's side, crouching and brushing aside his own confusion.

"Easy," he said, and Athena backed up. "You're all right. You're safe."

Delphi stared at him for a moment before he relaxed, some sort of recognition clicking in his pale eyes. His gaze unfocused and he tensed again.

"No, I'm not safe—no, that's not what I meant!" He curled in on himself, rocking slightly. "I just wanted to help—"

"Delphi, look at me, try to focus."

"It's too loud—I'm sorry it was an accident—Always dreaming, he's always dreaming—"

The Speaker shifted, sitting down next to him. "I want to help you, but I can't unless you tell me what you're going through," he said softly, uncertain if Delphi could even hear him.

Delphi looked at him, confused. "You know," he said. "You hear it, too, so why don't you know?" His eyes filled with tears again.

"I hear it, sometimes," the Speaker said. "When I dream, when I wear the mask."

"I hear it always," Delphi whispered. "It's too much. Too loud. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to hurt you."

"You haven't," the Speaker said and Delphi just shook his head.

"I can't block it out, can't make it be quiet. I asked it but it won't listen to me." He was sobbing now, pushing the heels of his hands to his temples. "A hundred thousand voices all talking at once—" He fell into quiet muttering.

The Speaker looked at Athena. "Do you hear it?"

"No," she said, quietly. She sounded lost and the Speaker couldn't imagine how she must feel.

"Pathways," Delphi muttered. "N.. no, branches. A tree. Or… a forest. Infinite. He found… did he? It's so loud..."

The Speaker frowned, looking over at his mask again. He had made it once, he wondered if he could make it again, but one that worked in the opposite. Something to quiet the Traveler's voice rather than amplify it. Deafen Delphi to the noise in his head until he learned how to control it. It was worth a try, at least.

Next to him, Delphi fell limp, leaning against the Speaker. His eyes were wide, glowing solid white. The Speaker waited, tense, expecting him to scream. He could feel the Light radiating off him and both Ghosts moved closer, their eyes glowing a bit brighter.

"Wake up," Delphi whispered, his voice strained. "Wake up."

All at once, the Light left him. He made a small noise and slumped over onto the Speaker, unconscious again. Athena let out a quiet sigh, seeming disappointed as the Speaker picked Delphi up and put him back on the bed.

"I'd hoped..." she said and then stopped. She angled herself, looking out the window at the Traveler. "Why aren't you helping him?" she demanded.

"Have faith," the Speaker said, straightening up. "I have an idea."


	6. The Last City II

"How's that?"

As the Speaker adjusted the circlet on Delphi's head, everything suddenly slammed into focus, quieting with such a force that Delphi gasped. He could still hear it, still see flickers on the edges of his vision, but it was quiet. He blinked, seeing the Speaker clearly for the first time, a voice he had come to trust over the past weeks, and his expectant, hopeful visage immediately blurred again.

"Delphi?"

"It's quiet," Delphi whispered, against the tightness in his throat. The Speaker exhaled, with a relieved smile.

"Thank the Traveler," he murmured and Delphi shook his head.

"Thank _you_. The Traveler has done _nothing_ to help me." He wiped his eyes and looked around, able to truly see his surroundings for the first time. "Where am I?" he asked. "Even with it quiet… I don't remember."

"Many risen never regain their memories from before their death," the Speaker said.

"I died?" Delphi asked, alarmed.

"Only temporarily," said a different voice beside him. The little floating creature who's voice he had heard in his head a few times, louder and more present than the others, grounding him even a little. "It's part of being a Guardian," she said. "You'll get used to it."

The thought of getting used to dying was disturbing but he decided to push past it. "What is your name? I'm sorry, if you told me it was lost in the noise."

"That's all right. I'm Athena, your Ghost."

"Athena… Hello," Delphi said, smiling, and he felt her happiness as she bumped into his cheek.

"And maybe these will jog your memory," she said. There was a flash of light and a photo and a necklace appeared in his lap. The pendant was carved crystal, resonating with some sort of energy that calmed him. He didn't remember it, but it put it around his neck regardless. The photo was that of identical twins.

"That one's you, I think," Athena said, highlighting the one on the left. Delphi looked at his hand, uncertain about the skintones. "You've… changed a bit, I'll explain later," Athena said.

"'Don't forget me'," he read. "Ah. I hope she's not too upset."

"Maybe we'll find her someday. Awoken live for a long time."

"I hope so," Delphi said, letting Athena take the photo away in another rush of light. He wasn't sure where she kept it, but it was probably safer than his pocket. He stood up, walking over to the window wall, not looking at the Traveler, but at the city below.

"This is the Last City," Athena explained, following him. "After the Collapse, pretty much the only safe place was under the Traveler."

"The Collapse… I feel like I have a lot to catch up on," he said.

"Yeah," she said, laughing slightly. "But you're immortal now, so you've got all the time in the world to read up."

Delphi smiled, only just beginning to realize what he had been missing. He turned around, looking to the Speaker. "Do you have any idea why this is happening to me?" he asked.

The Speaker stood, walking over to join him. "The Traveler has chosen you. There used to be quite a few like us who could hear it's voice, only in dreams. I… believed I was the last until it brought you to me."

"But I don't only hear it in dreams. And I rarely hear a voice. It's like…" he sighed. "It's like if a hundred thousand screens were all playing something different and I'm watching them all at the same time. And only one of them is here and now, but another is here and a few seconds ago, or a few seconds ahead. You don't… see anything like that?"

The Speaker shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't. I don't know why the Traveler put so much of itself in you. It may not even know. But regardless I will do my utmost to help you, if I can."

"You have, already," Delphi pointed out. "Can you tell me about this place? About the Collapse and the Traveler and my Ghost and—"

"Everything?" Athena guessed.

"Yes. Everything."

The Speaker smiled. "I can certainly start."

* * *

Delphi fiddled with his necklace, staring out the window at the Traveler. He could feel the Light in the pendant, now that he knew what that was, and he could feel something else. Athena informed him it was Darkness. They were in perfect balance within the crystal. He had asked the Speaker if there was a way for him to balance his Light with Darkness, if that would quiet the noise in his head. The Speaker had advised him to stay away from the Darkness. Athena told him she wasn't sure where to find any, even if it was a good idea.

"Delphi."

Delphi inhaled, pulling himself out of his thoughts as he stood and turned, smiling as the Speaker walked over to him. "Yes?"

"Don't you dare tell him," Athena hissed.

"Tell me what?" he asked, glancing at her curiously. He could feel her annoyance.

"That you can never be a full Guardian," the Speaker said, and Athena let out an angry noise, zipping over to Delphi's side.

"Ignore him. Of course you can be a Guardian—"

"It's entirely too dangerous for you to be out doing patrols or running strikes when you might collapse at any moment," the Speaker said, bluntly.

Delphi looked down. The Speaker had a point, of course, but it was difficult to hear. Athena always spoke about the Guardians in the Tower, how they wielded their Light to protect everyone. If he couldn't be one, he wasn't sure why he'd been brought back.

The Speaker cut that thought off as he spoke again. "There are countless other ways you can help, of course. Ikora is always looking for research assistants. However… I believe you are meant for something else. How would you like to be my apprentice?"

Athena dropped a good foot in shock before she recovered and came back up to eye level, shaking her shell. "Whoa, wait, _what_?"

The Speaker smiled. "Is it really that surprising?" he asked. "You're the first Speaker I've met in… well, a good long while, and you have an astonishingly strong connection to the Traveler."

Delphi frowned, realizing what he was offering. "I can't replace you," he said.

"Not right now, certainly," the Speaker agreed. "You have much to learn first. But someday I will need a replacement and the City will need a Speaker. Someone to reassure them that the Traveler is watching over them."

Delphi hesitated, glancing out at the Traveler. "You want me to lie to them?"

The Speaker's eyes widened slightly and his gaze flicked away briefly before he composed himself. A tiny slip. Enough to let Delphi know he knew. The Traveler was asleep. Injured and dreaming. Its Light may protect the City but it did nothing on purpose. Delphi doubted it was watching over any of them.

"It's not a lie," the Speaker said. "We have to believe it's protecting us. To give up on the Traveler, to give up hope, is to give into the Darkness."

"I suppose that makes sense."

"Doubt is… natural, but if you are to be a Speaker you can't show it."

"I haven't agreed yet," Delphi said.

"No, you haven't. What is your answer?"

He looked to his Ghost, the little light that he barely knew or understood, but trusted instinctively. "What do you think?"

"Honestly… I'm not sure," Athena said. "I think you'd be good at it, don't get me wrong, but there's a lot we don't know about what the Vex did to you. It seems a little… sudden? But if the Speaker thinks it's a good idea, then I trust him."

"I trust you too," Delphi said, looking at the Speaker. "And I have a feeling I'm supposed to be here. I don't… think I can be you, but I'll do my best."

The Speaker smiled. "I'd much rather you be yourself," he said.

"Speaker." Ansel appeared next to them. "Not to interrupt the moment but the Consensus is basically demanding you be at the meeting."

The Speaker sighed. "Very well. Tell them I'll be there in a moment… with my new apprentice."

Delphi stared at him and the Speaker smiled.

"Don't worry, you don't have to go to the meeting, but it would be good for you to put faces to names. Athena can take you on a tour of the Tower afterward and… Ansel, can you have a few frames clean out Osiris' old quarters?" The ghost bobbed slightly in assent.

Delphi felt a slight buzz of light and tensed as it danced along his nerves. He looked down and found himself in new clothes. Robes, fairly plain, but they fit better than the jumpsuit he'd apparently been found in.

"We'll get you better robes later, this is just what I had in storage," Athena said, apologetically. "Can't have you meeting the Vanguard in old Corsair armor."

The Speaker affixed his mask, pulling his hood up, and led Delphi outside. As they walked, he pointed things out, explaining how things worked in the Tower. Delphi didn't hear half of it, overwhelmed and distracted by the amount of people around. He could feel the Light of every Guardian that passed and greeted the Speaker. The air was filled with smells and sounds that reminded him of something he'd long since forgotten. But it was all outside of him and in that way it was comforting.

They walked through the Tower, down into interior rooms, until they reached a fairly nondescript looking door that opened as the Speaker stepped up to it. It opened into a much nicer room than the door would suggest, centered by a large table, currently with several people standing around it. They were grouped and having many quiet conversations until the door opened, when they all quieted and looked up, first to the Speaker and then, almost simultaneously, to Delphi. He shifted, suddenly wishing he had a mask like the Speaker's.

"Glad you could finally join us, Speaker," said a man, in a tone that suggested otherwise, crossing his arms. Delphi couldn't feel any Light coming from him.

 _[ That's the Executor of the New Monarchy, ]_ Athena explained. _[_ _One of the City factions. I don't care for him.]_

Delphi swallowed, hiding his smile.

"I won't apologize for my absence," the Speaker said. "The Traveler wanted my help with something."

"Gonna introduce us to your friend? Everyone's been buzzin' about him since Ansel told us," a man in a hood asked. _[_ _Andal Brask, Hunter Vanguard, ]_ Athena supplied. He looked much friendlier than the Executor.

"Of course. This is Delphi, my apprentice."

"Hello," Delphi said.

The woman Athena identified as Ikora looked intrigued. "A Warlock?" she asked. "I don't believe we've met. How long have you been in the Tower?"

"A month, I think," Delphi said, and watched her glance at the Speaker as she connected the time frame.

"Hm. I am Ikora Rey and I would have been your Vanguard. Still, I expect I'll be seeing you around." She smiled.

Zavala and Andal and the faction leaders all introduced themselves. The Executor, in particular, seemed unimpressed.

"I expect he won't be assuming Osiris' duties?" he asked the Speaker, marking the second time today Delphi had heard that name.

 _[ I'll explain later, ]_ Athena said.

"For the time being, Delphi won't be assuming any duties. Should that change, rest assured the Consensus will be the first to know," the Speaker said. He turned. "You're free to go, Delphi, I'll catch up with you later."

Delphi nodded, hesitated, and then dipped into an instinctive and confused bow, uncertain why. The movement was too sudden and the circlet fell off. He straightened back up, swamped by the cacophany of the Traveler's dreams. He struggled to restrain his reaction, hands automatically going to the pendant around his neck. He could hear the voices of the Vanguard, vaguely, and saw Ikora move toward him before she was replaced by an Awoken woman with pale hair and eyes, looking down at him. He thought, perhaps, he was speaking.

And then it all went away and he found himself kneeling on the floor with the Speaker in front of him, pulling his hands away from his head. Athena hovered nearby and Delphi could feel her concern.

"Careful," the Speaker said. "Are you all right?"

"I… I saw someone. A woman."

"We'll discuss it later. Try to rest. Athena, can you transmat him to his quarters?"

Athena bobbed and a moment later Delphi found himself in a new place. Dim, mostly empty. A single room apartment with a window wall that overlooked the City. Athena turned the lights on and tutted slightly.

"We'll have to do some redecorating. They really stripped this place after Osiris got exiled." She paused. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, now. I hope I didn't embarrass myself too badly in front of the Consensus."

"Nah. You didn't say anything too weird. Just something about an oracle."

"I saw a woman," Delphi said. "They're rarely that clear, but I saw… She was Awoken with blue skin and white hair and ice blue eyes… wearing purple and… fur? She was beautiful, but… I don't know. Cold. Regal? There was a symbol… like the one that's on my other clothes. Do you know anyone like that?"

Athena hesitated. "Well… the symbol on your armor is the Queen's symbol. I don't know anyone by that description, but non-risen Awoken are super rare in the City, they mostly stay in the Reef. She must be important, if you saw her. We can ask the Speaker. Priority one, I think, should be making that circlet into something that can't fall off. Maybe we can work it into your bond..."

Delphi shook his head. "I need to learn to control it on my own. I feel like I knew how, once. If I can just remember..." He sighed, taking his necklace off and looking at the crystal, running his thumb over it. "It has something to do with this. How long will the Speaker be gone?"

"Those meetings usually drag on for a while," Athena said, suddenly suspicious. "Why?"

"Put the circlet back on me if I go too far," he said, and took it off before she could complain, closing his eyes and giving himself up to the noise.


	7. The Last City III

Delphi opened the door to the meeting room, trying not to notice or mind how everyone fell silent and looked at him. He looked, instinctively, for Andal. The Hunter Vanguard had been the friendliest to him over the few years that he'd been at the Tower, but his seat was empty. Perhaps he was late.

Ikora was the first to speak as he walked over to the table. "Welcome," she said. "Where is...?"

"The Speaker is busy," Delphi replied. "He sent me in his place." With that, he sat down in the Speaker's seat. That was only partially true. Mostly, the Speaker simply hadn't wanted to attend. He was busy, though not busy enough to miss a Consensus meeting. He had sent Delphi as practice, instructing him to take notes and observe. Sitting quietly and listening felt very familiar, though Delphi wasn't sure why. His memory had yet to return, if it ever would.

"Very well," Zavala said. "Let us begin."

"Wait," Delphi said. "Where's Andal?"

"Away on a mission," Ikora explained.

"Oh," Delphi said, trying not to sound disappointed. He readied his notebook, listening as they spoke. It hardly seemed important, but he dutifully wrote everything down. He had started trying to write in the human script that he had learned since he'd been here, but they spoke too fast and he reverted to what the Speaker had identified as Awoken script. It came far more naturally to him. He would just translate it later.

Somewhere around halfway through the meeting, his notes drifted away from the dialogue between the Vanguard and the Factions. The longer he tried to focus on what they were saying, the more he became aware of the echoes of the Traveler. He had spent months retraining his mind to stay in the present, to flit through the visions as he chose. It was something he had already known how to do and had forgotten. At the moment, something was trying to get his attention.

He looked down, pretending to be very focused on his notes, and let his mind slip away. The vision was fragmented. A harsh, guttural barking, gunshots, a burst of Light as a Ghost was shot out of the air.

"Delphi?"

Ikora's voice came from far away, dragging him back. He inhaled sharply, looking at her. Everyone was staring at him and he had a suspicion that he'd started talking.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me," she said. "You said the name of Andal's Ghost. What did you see?"

"I saw it die," he realized, suddenly worried. "It got shot. Andal's in danger."

Immediately, Zavala was on the comms, ordering a fireteam to go after the Hunter and trying to reach Andal, who wasn't answering. Ikora was trying to mask the curiosity in her eyes with concern and she dismissed the Faction leaders. Delphi steadied his breath, trying to stave off the headache that had chased the vision.

"I called the Speaker," Athena said, appearing next to him. "Just hold on."

"I'm okay," Delphi said. He looked down at his notes and found they had turned into nonsensical fragments. Scribblings about nightmares and roses bearing thorns.

A moment later, the door opened and the Speaker entered, coming to Delphi's side. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"I'm okay," Delphi said, again, wishing people would quit treating him like he was fragile. "I just… zoned out during the meeting. I heard Fallen and I saw Andal's Ghost die." He looked down at his notes again. "Does… a 'noble man' and 'roses' mean anything to any of you?" he asked, looking from the Speaker to the Vanguard. All of them shook their heads after a moments thought.

"Maybe it's nothing," Delphi murmured. "I'm sorry. The visions aren't… straightforward."

"It's not your fault," the Speaker said. "Come. You should rest."

Delphi wanted to argue, but the headache was getting worse. Perhaps laying down for a moment wouldn't be terrible. He stood up and followed the Speaker out, pausing to look back at Ikora.

"Will you tell me, please, when Andal makes it back? I want to know he's okay."

"Of course," she said, inclining her head.

* * *

Delphi was part way through translating his notes for the Speaker when the door to his quarters opened. Athena had managed to dull the headache, though it was a source of eternal frustration for her that she couldn't get rid of them entirely. Delphi suspected it was because she was Light and that was what was causing his pain. All she could do was dull the nerves that were irritated by it and wait for the extra Light to die down again.

He chewed on the end of his pen, trying not to think about Andal and rather think about what letters he needed to be writing, and looked up when the door clicked and opened. The only person who could enter without permission was the Speaker, so he wasn't surprised to see him, and assumed he was coming to check on him. Delphi sat his pen down and the Speaker took his mask off as the door closed.

He looked at Delphi, gaze sorrowful, and a cold weight dropped into Delphi's stomach.

"No..."

"I'm sorry," the Speaker said as he walked over and sat down next to him. "Andal… They were too late."

Delphi covered his mouth, throat tightening. The Speaker wrapped his arms around him and Delphi leaned against him.

"This is not your fault," the Speaker said, softly, guessing where Delphi's mind had gone.

"I should have..."

"There's nothing you could have done."

"What's the point, then?" Delphi asked, his shock and grief giving way to anger. Not at the Speaker, but at himself. At the Traveler. "What's the point of having this _gift_ if I can't use it to help people? Why would the Traveler show me that Andal was going to die and not give me enough time to help?"

The Speaker exhaled. "I don't know," he said. "Perhaps the Traveler is not aware of the things it shows you, or not able to control them."

"Then what is the point of a god that lets its chosen die?"

"I think that question is one humans have been arguing over for millennia."

Delphi looked away, out the window toward the Traveler.

"The fireteam brought Andal's body back," the Speaker said after a moment. "There will be a service, if you would like to come."

Delphi shook his head.

"Very well."

After the Speaker left, Delphi stood up, walking over to the window. Athena appeared next to him, watching the Traveler with him for a few moments before she spoke.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"There's something I'm missing," he said. "I need to know _why_ the Traveler chose me. What it wants me to do. I can't… You and the Speaker seem to have this amazing _faith_ in it that I just can't."

"Hm… So what do you want to do?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said. "I need to remember. Maybe… Maybe we need to go back to the Vex."

"Whoa, what?" Athena asked, concerned.

"There's part of me that's missing," Delphi insisted. "You told me you had to pull my mind from the Vex network. Maybe all of it didn't come. My memories might still be in there."

"They _might_ be," Athena said. "A lot of Guardians never remember their past. I don't think it's a good idea to go back to Brakion looking for them."

"Then we go somewhere else. The Vex are a shared mind. We won't have to enter the Pyramidion to access the network." He hesitated. "I'm going. You don't have to come."

"Don't be ridiculous," Athena said, bumping her shell against his cheek. "I'm your Ghost. I'll always be with you."

"Then let's go now. Before I change my mind."

She made a slightly nervous noise, but bobbed her shell in a nod. "I'll ready your ship. What will you tell the Speaker?"

Delphi was quiet for a moment, conflicted. "Nothing," he decided. "He'll talk me out of it."

"Delphi—"

"He won't understand. Please just…" he faltered. Athena pressed against him again and then vanished, going to prepare his jumpship.

Delphi hurried over to the table, writing a quick note to the Speaker and leaving it folded in plain sight. He quickly packed his few possessions, trying to shake off his guilt. It was better for them all, this way, he thought. He couldn't be a Speaker when he didn't believe in the Traveler. He had to find his own way to that faith and he couldn't do that here. He needed to know who he was.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and hesitated in the doorway of his quarters, taking a breath.

"I'm sorry."


	8. Venus

"Delphi?"

Delphi startled slightly, realizing it wasn't the first time Athena had spoken. He pulled his hand back from the old books, looking at her.

"Sorry. Must've drifted off."

"You looked lost in thought. Anything in particular?" she asked. "I doubt if we can get into the Vex network through these old books," she teased.

"Hah, probably not. They just… remind me of something," he said. "This whole place." He walked over to the railing and leaned on it, looking down into the library. It was ruined. Mostly abandoned apart from dormant Vex who didn't seem to notice him. He didn't think he had ever been here, specifically, but the university reminded him of something that brought feelings of warmth and sadness.

"Good or bad?" Athena asked.

"Both, I think. Happy but… sad, somehow." He shook himself. "Anyway, let's see if we can find some Vex." He hopped over the railing and headed down into the collapsed floor through into the basement.

Eventually, he found himself in the Vex constructs underneath the university and found a console to get into. He and Athena had gotten used to this by now. It had been more than a year since they'd left the Tower and it had taken some research to find Ishtar, but it certainly wasn't the first place they had been. Delphi tried not to think about the Tower anymore, or the City, or the Traveler, or the Speaker. The Speaker hadn't attempted to contact them, following Delphi's request in the note he had left, and Delphi was grateful for that, but other times he desperately wished the Speaker would come after him. The Tower itself had never felt like home, but in a way the Speaker had.

So he tried not to think about it.

As he worked, having Athena forge credentials using the nanites in his blood, the screen suddenly flickered and glitched, going black before text appeared on it.

_Hi_

Delphi stared at it. "Uh… hello? Can you hear me?"

_Kinda. In the same way you can hear me right now. That's not important. What is important is, who are you?_

"Don't answer that," Athena said.

"Who are _you_?" Delphi asked.

_I asked first. We've noticed you making forays into the network. Pretty impressive, if a little clumsy. You've got our attention. It takes some serious skill to be able to hack past Vex tech, so who are you? And what are you looking for? Maybe we can help each other._

Delphi exchanged a glance with Athena, confused and wary. She shook her shell.

"No thank you," he said politely, and slammed a Light wrapped fist into the screen, shattering it.

* * *

The next console Delphi found, a week later, on another part of Venus, the same thing happened. He was nearly in and the screen went black and gold text appeared.

_Hi again!_

"Oh. Hi."

_Don't sound so excited._

"It's just that you keep interrupting me."

_Easy way to fix that. Just tell me who you are._

"Tell me who _you_ are and maybe I'll think about it."

_You're using Light to break in, so you're obviously a Guardian. How am I supposed to know you're not a spy?_

"I'm not."

_That's exactly what a spy would say._

"Fair enough. How can you tell I'm using Light?"

_Pretty easy to see from our end._

He frowned. "You keep saying 'we' and 'our'. Who else is there? And where are you? Are you on Venus, too?"

_Tell me who you are and I'll tell you._

He sighed and deactivated the console. Athena ruffled her shell, puzzled. She seemed in thought, so Delphi didn't say anything, waiting.

"They seem… familiar… somehow," she said, eventually. "But I can't figure out why."

"Well, whoever they are I wish they'd leave us alone," Delphi said. "Maybe we should go back to Io. They didn't bother us there, only when we came to Venus."

"Maybe..." Athena said, still seeming off-put. "But we already tried Io. We'd have to get back into the Pyramidion."

"Hm. We'll keep that as a Plan B for now," Delphi said. "Come on, maybe we can find something else here..."

* * *

_How many times are we gonna do this?_

Delphi sighed. "What do you want from me?"

_Answers. I wanna know how you're getting into all this Vex tech and what you're looking for._

He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment and then dropped his hand, wondering what would be the worst to happen. Whoever this was was obviously tracking him somehow. If they had wanted to harm him, they would have tried already.

"Fine. My name's Delphi."

_Hi Delphi. Are you a Guardian?_

"No. If you must know I'm a Speaker."

_The Speaker doesn't have Light, but nice try._

"I'm not the Speaker and I'm not a Guardian. And who are you, anyway? You said you'd tell me."

_I did, didn't I? My name's Sagira._

"Sagira!" Athena exclaimed.

_So you know my name?_

"That was my Ghost," Delphi said, looking at Athena. "Do you know them?"

"I do. Sagira is Osiris' Ghost. Hello Sagira, it's Athena, do you remember me?"

Delphi tensed at the name Osiris. He knew very little about the Warlock, but he was fairly infamous for being exiled. The Speaker had been reluctant to talk about him.

_Athena! Of course I remember you. You finally got yourself a Guardian, hm?_

"I did. Why are you tracking us?"

_We noticed your repeated break-ins. You're really confusing the Vex with whatever you're doing. They can't figure out how to stop you. How'd you manage that?_

"They think Delphi is a Vex," Athena said simply. "Where are you? We should talk in person."

_Mercury. Osiris is pretty keen to meet you, though he won't admit it. Come by, we'll open the Infinite Forest for you._

Pain spiked through Delphi's head and he grunted. "The oracle sees infinite pathways in an infinite forest and knows not which one to follow," he murmured.

_What?_

"Don't worry about it," Athena said quickly. "We'll see you on Mercury."


	9. Mercury

"What… what is this place?"

Delphi turned slowly, looking around at the space he had stepped into. He wasn't sure what he had expected to find walking through the portal of that giant pyramid on Mercury. The space felt distinctly Vex and yet not. Peaceful, in a way, and safe.

"Home sweet home," a voice said and he spun around as a Ghost with a sun-like shell floated into the room, ahead of a Warlock who eyed Delphi curiously.

"Sagira!" Athena said, zipping over to her.

"It's good to see you again, Athena," the Warlock said. "I see you found your Guardian."

"I did," she said. "Delphi, meet Osiris."

"Hi..." Delphi said, somewhat warily. "Sorry. All I know about you is what the Speaker told me, which wasn't much."

"Hah, and I imagine it was not good," Osiris said. "I invite you to form your own judgements."

Delphi looked away, observing the architecture again. It kept shifting. "Where are we?"

"Technically, the Infinite Forest," Osiris said as the Ghosts drifted off, talking amongst themselves. Delphi got the feeling they used to be friends. "This place is a kind of safe house that Sagira and I have carved out."

"The Infinite Forest is Vex, yes?" Delphi asked. "It feels..." He didn't want to say familiar. It felt familiar how all Vex technology felt familiar. Latent knowledge in his blood that he didn't want.

"Yes. A probability engine the size of a planet where the Vex run endless experiments, attempting to create their perfect reality."

Delphi shuddered at the thought. The only memories he had from before his death were pain at the hands of Brakion. He didn't relish the thought of what the Vex thought of as the perfect reality.

"You see why I thought it worth watching," Osiris said.

"Yes..." Delphi shook himself. "So, why has your Ghost been stalking me?"

Osiris laughed. "You caught her attention, sneaking so effectively through Vex systems. I'll admit I'm curious as well. Your Ghost said the Vex think you're one of them. How did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything," Delphi said. He pulled a dagger off his belt and ran the blade lightly across his palm, just enough for radiolarian to well up. "The Genesis Mind did."

Osiris grabbed his hand, looking closely at the blood. "Fascinating."

"If you say so," Delphi said.

"How are you alive? I didn't realize the Vex had achieved an ability to meld their technology with flesh yet."

Delphi shrugged. "I wasn't. The experiment itself killed me, but Athena found me. You'd have to ask her how she managed it." He pulled his hand back and Light buzzed through it as Athena noticed he was injured, healing him from across the room.

Osiris frowned. "What are you looking for?"

"My memory," Delphi said. "I know it has to be in their network somewhere."

"Hm." He thought for a moment. "Sagira and I will help you, if, in return, you allow me to study you."

Delphi smiled and held out his hand. "Deal."

"And not a word of this goes back to the Tower? I don't need renewed interest in hunting me, I'm very busy as it is."

"Only if you promise the same," Delphi said.

Osiris nodded and shook his hand, though he looked curious. "I find it hard to believe a Speaker would be exiled."

"I wasn't, but I'm not going back." Delphi paused, wondering if that was true. "Not until I find what I'm looking for, at least," he amended.

Osiris smiled. "Fair enough. Come, let's get started."

* * *

"It's sort of… beautiful, isn't it?"

Osiris glanced sideways at Delphi. The young Warlock sat on the edge of a platform, overlooking the expanse of the Infinite Forest. He had been here for a while now, making little progress on his own quest, and had decided to help Osiris study the Forest. It was remarkably convenient to have someone who could pass as a Vex around.

"It represents millenia of Vex efforts to reshape reality to their desire," Osiris said.

"Well… yeah, but from here it's pretty," Delphi said. He flinched slightly, stifling a grunt, putting a hand to his head. It wasn't the first time Osiris had seen him do something similar. He hadn't asked, assuming it was some pain caused by his Vex alterations.

His eyes opened, glowing solid white, and Athena appeared next to him quickly, trying to put herself between Osiris and her Guardian. Unfortunately for her, Sagira had noticed as well.

"Ooh, what's happening?" Sagira asked, floating down in front of Delphi. "That's… whoa… is that...?"

Athena fluffed up her shell slightly, raising her hackles. Before she could say anything, Delphi spoke, and his voice was wrong. It sounded like several voices, layered over each other.

"The heart of the Garden has been torn out—skies clear only briefly—Guardians lost in the dark draw the attention of something worse—it's coming to take the Light—the Queen is lost—"

Delphi gasped as the energy left him. Osiris steadied him before he fell off the edge of the platform. Delphi blinked and looked at him, seeming puzzled. He glanced between Osiris, Sagira, and Athena, and winced.

"I started talking, didn't I?" he asked.

"Yeah," Athena said. "Something about a Garden, something coming to take the Light, and a Queen."

"About as much sense as usual, then," Delphi sighed.

"What _was_ that?" Sagira asked. "Your Light was..." She trailed off and Osiris could feel her curiosity and confusion.

"Not mine," Delphi said. He shrugged, seeming uncomfortable. "I told you I was a Speaker. Usually I can block it out, but sometimes the Traveler has something to say."

"I'll be honest," Osiris said, "I didn't realize the Traveler actually _spoke._ " He had, of course, spent a good deal of time with the Speaker before his exile and knew the Speaker at least thought he could hear the Traveler. He hadn't known that there were _others_ and he hadn't known it could briefly possess them.

"I'm not sure it does," Delphi said. "But it dreams quite loudly." He shifted. "Do any of the things I said mean anything to you?"

"The Garden," Osiris said. "It may refer to the Black Garden. Another Vex construct. We heard chatter about a team of Guardians breaking in. They must have destroyed whatever darkness was there. The rest… I'm not certain. The Queen may refer to the Queen of the Awoken."

"Do you know her?"

"No."

Delphi visibly deflated at that, disappointed. "The word 'queen' feels… familiar for some reason."

"Her name is Mara Sov, if that rings any bells," Sagira said. "We don't know much about her because the Awoken keep to themselves and Osiris doesn't really care, to be honest."

"Mara Sov..." Delphi said quietly. "That does… I can't remember, but she feels… important."

"Well, you _are_ Awoken," Sagira said. "Maybe she was your Queen in your past life."

"Maybe," Delphi said. "All the more reason to remember, I suppose."

"I've been thinking about that," Osiris said. "We can only find the slimmest connections to the Pyramidion here. Brakion is keeping whatever its doing to itself, only providing the results of its research to the Forest. I doubt it would put forth a failed experiment that escaped. You may need to venture back inside to retrieve your memories."

Delphi exhaled. "I've… thought that too. I had hoped…" His Ghost bumped into his cheek reassuringly.

"We'll come with you!" Sagira offered, brightly.

Osiris looked at her sharply and she shifted her shell in what he recognized as a shrug.

"Your reflections will keep an eye on the Forest and it's been ages since we've been out."

"The Vex have a difficult time noticing Delphi. The same isn't true for us."

"I doubt Brakion will fail to notice him and we've got our own tricks," Sagira said. "It'll be fun."

Osiris sighed. "Very well," he agreed, knowing his Ghost wouldn't let it go and, on a level, he had become somewhat fond of the young warlock. He did want to make sure he got out of the Pyramidion alive. Delphi beamed, visibly relieved. Osiris stood.

"I have some preparations before I leave the Forest, and then we will depart."


	10. Io II

"Does this look familiar?"

Delphi looked around. He had been nervous since they had entered the Pyramidion, tightly gripping an old Awoken rifle in his hands. They had yet to see any Vex and that was more concerning to Osiris than if they had fought their way in.

"I… I don't know," Delphi said. "I can't remember."

"It's okay," Athena said.

"Let's keep going," Sagira agreed. "Eventually we have to find something."

Osiris nodded and let Delphi lead the way, hoping his instincts would lead him in the right direction. They could easily get lost in here. He didn't voice his actual opinion, which was that Delphi, like the vast majority of Guardians, simply would never remember his past. The Warlock seemed to have hinged his entire future on finding his memories, so it seemed needlessly cruel to alert him to it. Not yet, at least.

They exited a passage into another chamber and Delphi halted, uncertain.

"Wait… this doesn't feel…" He turned and stepped back, looking around. Before anyone could react, a portal opened beneath his feet and Delphi vanished with a startled shout. It closed before even his Ghost could follow.

"Delphi!" Athena exclaimed.

Osiris grabbed her before she vanished. "Wait. Brakion has him. If we can find him, you can undo whatever it does, but not if it gets to you as well."

She shook him off, shell pushing out slightly.

"He's right," Sagira said. "Stay with us. And by the way, we're surrounded," she said to Osiris. She vanished and Athena ducked into Osiris' robes as he drew his weapon and Vex began to appear all around him.

Moments later, the Vex lay dead on the floor and Osiris put his weapon away. He fiddled with the time cubes, trying to attune a portal to Athena's Light and find her guardian. Something was trying to block his Light, but eventually he managed to get through and the portal opened.

"Stay close," he said to both Ghosts who had decided to come out again. They all went through and found themselves in another empty chamber. He frowned, closing the portal.

"It's changing the Pyramidion around us," Osiris said and then tensed at a scream.

"Delphi!" Athena said, worried.

"Can you track him?" Osiris asked. The sound echoed too much around the odd architecture to be able to tell which direction it had come from.

"Give me a second," Athena said, shell pushing out around a ball of light as she moved around, trying to get a bead on her Guardian. The screams hadn't stopped. "Got him!" she exclaimed, shell snapping back around her eye. "This way!"

* * *

Osiris practically fell through the portal back out onto the surface of Io, snapping it shut before any Vex could follow. He felt Sagira heal his superficial injuries as he shifted Delphi off of his shoulder onto the ground. The Warlock was still screaming, seeming completely unaware of his surroundings. Osiris could hardly blame him, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the noise attracted attention.

"Will you be able to ressurect him?" he asked Athena.

"I… yes," she said, distressed.

Osiris pulled out his gun and fired, silencing Delphi's screams. He holstered it again and picked the Warlock's body up, looking around for somewhere more sheltered. He spotted a cave entrance nearby and went inside.

It was empty. Small and dry. Osiris found a flat piece of ground to lay Delphi on and Athena immediately began her scans, trying to figure out how to rebuild her Guardian after what Brakion had done. Sagira materialized a lantern and lit it, illuminating the small chamber and letting Osiris get his first good look at the damage.

Brakion, clearly trying to continue its original experiment with Delphi, had started trying to replace parts of him with modified Vex metal. One of his legs to the hip and the other to the knee had been, rather surgically, removed and replaced.

"It did it again," Athena said, distressed. "Changed him in every timeline. I can't… find, can't remember, a template without the changes."

"Start by bringing him back," Osiris said.

Light flashed and Delphi didn't move, though his chest began to rise and fall and the bleeding stopped.

"I did my best," Athena said quietly. Sagira gently bumped her shell into her fellow Ghost. Osiris examined the connections. Athena had fixed Brakion's cruel work, affixing the Vex prosthetics more cleanly. She dropped forlornly onto her Guardian's chest as he slept and Osiris made himself more comfortable, settling in to examine what Brakion had done and find a way to reverse it.

* * *

It was the middle of the night when the Speaker was awoken by Ansel, with unexpected news.

"I got a call," the Ghost said, once the Speaker had woken.

"What happened?" he asked, assuming it must have been important for the Ghost to wake him rather than hold it until morning.

"It's… Athena," they said and the Speaker tensed. It had been nearly three years since Delphi had left the Tower, disappearing without a word, only leaving behind a note. He had hoped, every day, that the Warlock would return, but had eventually, reluctantly, begun to give up hope. He hadn't started looking for a new apprentice. After losing Osiris and Saint and now Delphi, he had started to think he really was meant to be the last.

"She sounded upset," Ansel said. "She didn't… entirely explain what had happened, but she asked if you would come."

"Where is she?" the Speaker asked, getting up and starting to get changed, putting on his more armored traveling clothes.

"Io… The Pyramidion."

He paused, exhaling. "Oh, Delphi… what have you done..." He shook himself, hurrying. "Prepare a jumpship," he said. Ansel vanished.

The Speaker affixed his mask, hurrying out of his quarters and heading across the Tower toward the hangar, hardly seeing the Guardians that he passed, giving him curious looks. It wasn't until he reached the hangar entrance that someone actually stopped him.

"Speaker?"

He turned to see Ikora behind him.

"Where are you going?" she asked, looking his attire over.

"Out," the Speaker said.

She frowned, glancing up at the ship that was quietly idling nearby. "You shouldn't leave the City by yourself," she said.

"I can take care of myself," the Speaker replied.

"And if something happens? You don't have Light. You have a responsibility to the City. What are we meant to do if you don't come back?"

"I have a _responsibility_ to—" he broke off and took a breath, calming himself. She had a point. If he didn't come back the City would be without the Traveler's guidance. His job was to provide hope. He looked away, conflicted.

"What's going on?" Ikora asked quietly, moving closer. "I've never seen you like this."

"I have a responsibility to the Traveler," the Speaker replied. "And right now, it is calling me away from the City."

Ikora sighed. "At least take this," she said, holding out a sidearm.

He took it and tucked it into his belt. "Thank you. I'll be back." He stepped back and Ansel transmatted him into the ship. He stepped into the cockpit and sat down, removing his mask and taking a moment to remember how to use a jumpship.

"I'll fly," Ansel said. "Athena sent me coordinates and… no offense, but when was the last time you used a jumpship?"

"I can't remember."

"Yeah." The Ghost took control of the ship and took them out of the hangar.

The Speaker watched the Traveler as they passed, wondering how much he had just lied to Ikora. He had to believe the Traveler was watching over Delphi as best as it could. It had chosen him and it had brought him to the Speaker's door. If Delphi was in danger then he had to believe the Traveler wanted him to help. In the end, he knew it was all just justification. Whether the Traveler wanted it or not, _he_ cared about Delphi. He wasn't going to ignore a cry for help.

* * *

When Ansel transmatted him to the surface of Io, the Speaker was immediately taken by the Pyramidion. He had read about it, but it was far more imposing in person. He shuddered to think what sort of things were going on inside. He tensed at movement, reaching for the weapon Ikora had given him, and stopped when he saw a familiar face, though not the one he had expected to find here.

Osiris stepped out from the entrance to a cave, lowering his hood and looking at the Speaker, his gaze puzzled. The Speaker couldn't move for a moment, so taken aback. He took a breath and forced himself to step forward.

"Why are you—? Nevermind. Where is Delphi?" he asked. He could deal with Osiris later, as much as he suddenly wanted to ask about Saint.

"Inside," Osiris replied.

The Speaker brushed past him, ducking into the cave. It was well lit inside, though not particularly homey. He saw Delphi immediately, unconscious or asleep, with his outer robe folded under his head. The source of Athena's concern was blatantly clear, where Delphi's legs had been replaced with those of Vex metal. The Ghost in question was resting on Delphi's chest with Sagira next to her.

Sagira lifted up in surprise when the Speaker entered. "Oh. Hi," she said.

Athena darted up a foot. "Speaker!"

"What happened?" he asked, moving over to sit down at Delphi's side.

"We were… trying to recover his memory. We thought the Pyramidion would be a good place, but Brakion was waiting for us. I… I tried to fix it but..." she faltered.

"I'm sure you did all you could," he said gently.

"I don't know if you can do anything and I know he would be upset with me for calling you, but… Osiris was at a loss and I just didn't know what else to do. He won't wake up."

"I'll do what I can," the Speaker said, uncertain what he could do to help. He looked at her, puzzled and somewhat wary. "Did Osiris tell you to go into the Pyramidion?"

" _Osiris_ was the one that pulled Delphi out of there," Sagira said, offended.

"It was his idea," Athena said, "but Sagira's right. They came with us. It wasn't Osiris' fault."

The Speaker smiled faintly. "Forgive me." He returned his attention to Delphi, laying a hand against his cheek. Even through his glove he could feel that the Warlock was burning up.

"He's been dreaming," Athena said. "Talking in his sleep. Nothing that makes any sense. His body is still struggling to accept the new parts, I think that's where the fever is coming from."

"I'm not sure—" the Speaker began, breaking off when Delphi suddenly moved, grabbing his wrist tightly. His eyes opened, glowing white, and he looked at the Speaker.

"A storm is coming," he said, softly, in a voice that layered over his own. "Clouds already gather on the horizon and darkness follows. They will cage the Light. Try to break it. Break _you_. You cannot let them. You can't—"

He broke off with a slight whimper of pain and fell back, limp again, his eyes closing. The Speaker stared at him for a moment, realizing that message had been for him. The Traveler briefly taking hold of Delphi to pass along a message. In his own mind, he only ever caught fragments, short sentences. Nothing so direct. He exhaled and took Delphi's hand in his own, praying to the Traveler to help him.

As if in response, Delphi shifted, face contorting slightly. His eyes blinked open, back to normal, and he focused on the Speaker. His eyes widened and then filled with tears. He tried to sit up, finding unexpected resistance in his legs. A frightened noise escaped his throat when he saw them and the Speaker steadied him.

"Easy. You're all right." He helped him sit up, surprised when Delphi immediately hugged him tightly. He returned it. "You're safe," he murmured.

"I'm sorry—I shouldn't have—"

"You have nothing to apologize for."

* * *

"Come on, try again."

Delphi took a deep breath, hands gripping the Speaker's shoulders as he stood up. He wobbled, but managed to stay on his feet this time. A day had passed since he had woken, during which Athena had been diligently working to align his nerves properly and Delphi had been learning how to move his new legs. Not much talking had been done during that day. Delphi's gaze had been fairly hollow the entire time as he tried to process what had happened and that his Ghost couldn't fix it.

The Speaker backed up a step at a time, leading Delphi across the cave as he took uncertain, stumbling, steps, staring at his feet and frowning in concentration.

"I've… never had to think about how to walk before," Delphi said.

The Speaker smiled sympathetically. "You're doing well."

Delphi exhaled shakily. "I never should have left the Tower," he mumbled.

"Shh, what's done is done," the Speaker said. "Regret won't help you move forward. Focus on your recovery."

Delphi shook his head. "I don't understand why… I left without saying anything, why are you here? Why are you helping me?"

"Do you really think I care so little for you that you leaving would change that?"

Delphi met his gaze, confused. "But, I..."

"You weren't ready. You had something you needed to find," the Speaker said, remembering the note he had found when he had gone to check on Delphi after Andal's funeral. Short, shaking, begging the Speaker not to be angry, explaining that he couldn't be what the Speaker wanted until he knew what he was, knew _why_ he was, and asking him not to follow. It had been a blow to the Speaker's heart, but he had never been angry.

He stepped back again, turning, leading Delphi in more steps until they became less stumbling. The tightness of his grip on the Speaker's shoulders didn't change, though it was unclear what sort of balance he was seeking.

"Are you going to take me back?" Delphi asked quietly.

"Only if you wish to return," the Speaker murmured and the Warlock looked away, conflicted. He smiled. "But I can see that you don't, so I will remain until you're healed."

"Thank you," Delphi said. "I just… I know I might not ever remember who I am, but… there's _something_ I need to find even if I don't know what it is. I just don't think I would ever be happy… I couldn't do what you do. I don't have that… peace." His grip tightened, just slightly.

"I know, and I sincerely hope someday you find it. Until then, I will always be here for you, wherever you are."

Delphi smiled, for the first time since he had awoken, and the Speaker returned it, not voicing his relief. As much as he missed Delphi, he didn't want him to return only for the Speaker to watch him live in quiet distress, unable to find faith and comfort in the Traveler, but there were other reasons he didn't want Delphi to return to the Last City as well. If storm clouds were building, if something was coming to cage the Light, he, perhaps somewhat selfishly, wanted Delphi to be as far away from it as possible.


	11. Towerfall

"I think it's… her."

Delphi frowned at the old photo, wishing he could remember anything about the woman next to him in it. His sister. His twin. He knew her handwriting better than he knew her name, only knowing its first letter. P. She was still alive, he was certain of that in a way he couldn't explain. But he had no idea how long he'd been gone. They were probably different ages by now. They looked different. Would she even recognize him?

"What do you mean?" Athena asked. They were in their ship, in the Reef. Delphi had hoped to find some link to his past here, but it was a mess. The Awoken had scattered after they lost their Queen and he had no idea how to find them.

"Everything else we've tried has ended up at a dead end or..." He faltered, tapping his fingers absently on the metal of his leg, folded up into the pilot's seat. He still hadn't entirely gotten used to them, though he could use them now without thinking about it. He forgot, sometimes, only to be viscerally reminded when he caught a glimpse of the metal. Athena had, at least, changed it to a pale cobalt rather than Vex bronze. It helped, somewhat.

Delphi shook himself. "Maybe if we can find her, she can help me remember."

"It's an idea, at least," Athena agreed. "I think there was a woman who worked in the City, as a sort of liaison for the Queen." She thought for a moment. "Petra. We could ask her. Your ship has royal symbols on it and the woman in the photo is wearing a Corsairs uniform. Petra might know who she is. Or who you are."

"If we can find her," Delphi said. "If Mara's dead, there wouldn't be much use for a liaison. I'm sure she's—" He broke off with a gasp as pain shot through his head. He put a hand to his temple.

"Delphi—"

Athena's voice faded and his vision was overtaken with a series of images. A storm. Red sky. Fire. The City. The Traveler, but something was wrong. It was trapped. Burning. Light going out. A broken mask. His own voice, screaming.

Delphi lurched forward, coming back to reality, breathing hard.

"Delphi? Delphi!" Athena positioned herself in front of his face, voice filled with concern. "What happened?"

He sat back, realizing he was crying, though he didn't think it was his own emotion. It felt stronger than it should be, and yet secondhand. _The Traveler,_ he realized. It was crying.

"Something's wrong," he said, grabbing the controls to the jumpship and inputting the coordinates for the City. "We need to go back. _Now._ "

"Why? What did you see?" Athena asked, worried.

Delphi didn't reply for a moment, trying to stow the Traveler's emotion and decipher what it had shown him. The City burning. The Tower falling. The Speaker…

"I think… the end of the world."

* * *

"The Traveler! What are they doing to it?"

Delphi didn't want to look. He could _feel_ its pain, its fear. It wasn't awake, but it was aware. Aware of the City falling to pieces underneath it. Aware of the cage being wrapped around it. Aware that it could do nothing to help.

So Delphi ran, into the plaza. He was heading for the Speaker's observatory, trying not to think about the broken mask, or the last time he had a vision about someone getting hurt. He had been too late, then. He couldn't let that happen again. As he was running, someone grabbed him by the back of his robes, yanking him backward. He tripped, falling back, as a bubble of Light appeared around him, a moment before missiles slammed into it.

"Where are you going, Guardian?" the titan demanded, looking back at him as another guardian helped him to his feet. The bubble dropped.

"I'm not a Guardian," Delphi said, recognizing Zavala. He pulled his helmet off and saw recognition in Zavala's eyes.

"You—"

 _"Zavala—"_ Ikora's voice came over the comm. _"The Speaker—he's gone."_

"No!" Delphi shouted, shoving past Zavala, running for the other side of the watch. _Not again._ ||run|| _Not again._

Delphi ran into the north end of the Tower, skidding to a halt in horror as he saw that the orrery had been ripped off the Tower. Ikora landed nearby, visibly upset. She turned and her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Delphi...?"

"I saw—I came as soon as I could, but—" Delphi sank to his knees, one hand over his mouth, unable to tell where his grief and fear ended and the Traveler's began. It was too strong. Humans weren't meant to feel a god's pain.

"You need to get out of here," Ikora said. "There are Guardians on their way to the command ship."

Delphi's vision flickered. Broken mask. _No. Not yet._ The Speaker. Restrained. _Alive. Breathing. ||_ run || He shook himself, forcing the Traveler's emotions down again.

"Where? I need to—he's alive, I can still find him," he said, getting to his feet.

The smallest amount of hope entered Ikora's eyes and she nodded. "Go. I'll send someone to pick you up—" She broke off, spinning around as a Cabal ship came into view, weapons trained on them. "Go!" she shouted, before summoning her Light and throwing herself at the ship.

Delphi turned, and ran.

* * *

"Del—phi?"

With effort, Athena lifted herself higher. Her shell had never felt so heavy. She was barely awake, vision flickering as she struggled to function without Light. She couldn't see her Guardian, couldn't feel his Light. She wasn't sure what had happened. One moment she had been on top of Ghaul's ship, facing him down at Delphi's side. And then… the most excruciating pain she'd ever felt and the most terrified scream she'd ever heard from her Guardian. She had… lost consciousness? Nothing she'd ever experienced. And when she had woken up she had been on the ground. Alone.

"Delphi!" she cried, forcing her shell out, trying to scan for any trace of him. He couldn't be gone. He _wasn't_. She looked around and picked a direction, floating unsteadily down the ruined street, flinching into the shadows at any sound of Cabal.

 _This can't be happening_ , she thought, staring up at the Traveler through the smoke and fire. It was caged. Dark. She couldn't feel its presence at all. The City was lost and Athena was alone.

She wished she could cry as she called again and again for her Guardian. It was hard to think that once, before she had met him, she had hoped she never got a Guardian. She remembered her annoyance at realizing he was in the Pyramidion. She remembered wondering if he was worth it. And now he was gone and she had no idea what to do. She couldn't process the possibility that he was gone for good. If she couldn't find him… if he was dead…

Athena darted behind some rubble at movement, coming out again when she heard a quiet whimper. She peeked over the edge of a crater and saw a humanoid shape, grasping awkwardly at a piece of concrete, trying to pull themself out from under debris. They were clearly injured and Athena moved closer, wondering if she could help, and the firelight caught a glint of metal.

"Delphi!"

The Warlock looked up, grabbing Athena as she darted into his hands. He held her tight to his chest, curling up around her.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered, voice tight with pain.

"Never," Athena said, wiggling out of his grip to press her shell against his cheek, not admitting that she had thought the same. Looking around the crater, she had no idea how Delphi had survived, as it seemed he had fallen from the ship, but she wasn't going to complain.

What little Light she had left, what little connection remained between them, she used to heal his injuries. She knew she wouldn't be able to resurrect him if he died, but he was alive now and that was all that mattered.

"I'm sorry I can't do more," she said. "We need to get out of here." She made herself incorporeal, settling into his neural pathways in the tiniest hint of their Light that remained. And yet it seemed… more than it should be. What was natural to Delphi, she thought, not given to him by the Traveler. That was what Awoken were, after all. The Light and Dark in him were almost equal now, though the Light was still stronger. Still unbalanced.

He stood up and immediately stumbled, grunting in pain. Athena felt his leg spasm. Without Light to combat them, the Vex nanites had awoken in his blood, eating their way further into his body. She did her best to ease the pain and Delphi forced himself to move.

He was quiet, until they found a way out through the wall into the wilderness, and then he began to hum. The tune sounded familiar and Athena realized after a moment it was one that the Speaker had often hummed absently as he worked or as he attempted to comfort Delphi in the early days when his mind had been out of his control.

Delphi held tightly to his gun, humming nervously as he made his way into the trees.

 _[ Maybe you should be quiet. ]_ Athena advised, worried about the sound attracting attention.

 _Everything is quiet,_ Delphi replied without speaking. _I feel like I've gone deaf. There's nothing but empty silence and it hurts._

Athena didn't protest again, letting him try to fill the silence in his head. A life spent hearing the Traveler's echoes in his mind, she couldn't imagine what it was like to hear only his own thoughts.

* * *

Delphi stumbled, looking up at the trilling cry of a hawk. It had been weeks that he had been wandering the Twilight Gap, following that bird. He had seen it, after Ghaul had kicked him off the command ship and he had hit the ground. The Traveler had protected him, he was certain of that, giving him one last, quiet, vision. A hawk. Dark shadows in the water. A shard. He wasn't sure what any of it meant, but he had decided to follow the bird.

His leg spasmed again, sending shooting pain up his side and he stifled a cry, losing his balance and slipping down the slope, tumbling to a halt on his back. He looked at the sky, not moving, letting the pain die down. It had been getting worse, making it harder and harder to keep moving. Athena had done her best, but without her Light she couldn't hold the Vex back forever. Eventually it would completely overtake his body and he wasn't sure what would happen then.

"On your feet, small one."

Delphi blinked as a shadow fell over him. He squinted and made out an exo face against the bright sky. She held down a hand and he took it, letting her pick him back up to his feet. He might have taken offense to the 'small' comment but as he stood up, he realized she was easily seven feet tall. Behind her stood an Awoken woman in Titan armor, and a human woman dressed like a Hunter. The exo herself wasn't wearing recognizable armor, it seemed more decorative like the intricate horns on her head.

"Where did you come from?" he asked.

The exo pointed back toward a path in the other direction. "We are going to Felwinter Peak. Travel with us, it will be safer."

Delphi looked around for his bird and realized it was nowhere in sight. He nodded, having no better ideas. "Thank you. I'm Delphi, by the way."

"Ammit-4. This is Mau and Medjay."

The Hunter said nothing, watching the sky cautiously. The Titan looked at him critically.

"You're the Speaker's apprentice, aren't you?" Mau asked.

"I… was, yes," Delphi said.

"Hm. Wondered where you'd gone." She smiled, somewhat humorlessly. "Looks like it didn't work out too well for you," she said, gesturing at his legs.

"No. It didn't," Delphi replied stiffly. He turned at a cry from the hawk, as it came back into view, circling overhead. It alighted on a tree branch and ruffled its feathers, a moment before the Hunter tensed.

"Incoming!" she snapped, diving to the left and disappearing from view. None of the rest of them had time to move before the jumpship appeared over the clearing, setting down slowly, followed by a few City ships. Ammit-4 readied her gun and Mau cracked her knuckles. Medjay reappeared on the other side of the clearing, knocking an arrow on her bow.

A human woman dropped out of the ship and the hawk flew over, landing on her raised arm. She looked between them, seeming almost disappointed.

"Guardians..." She sighed, looking away thoughtfully. Ammit lowered her weapon and Medjay came out of hiding cautiously.

"That bird… it belongs to you?" Delphi asked, taking a step toward her.

"Mm."

"Where are you going?" he asked. "I think I'm meant to go with you."

She frowned. "I'm looking for refugees, not Guardians."

"What makes you think that Guardians aren't refugees, right now?" he asked. "We have no Light. We may be able to protect ourselves a little better than the average civilian, but we're still being slaughtered."

She sighed. "Fine, but you better make yourselves useful."

"If you're escorting refugees, we can help protect them," Mau offered and the other two nodded. Delphi wasn't sure he could fight at the moment, but he didn't say anything. The woman nodded and gestured, heading back toward her ship. Delphi followed, sticking close to the Guardians. He didn't know them, but at least they were friendlier than the woman with the bird.

* * *

Delphi walked up the rickety wooden stairs to where Hawthorne stood, keeping her watch over the Farm. The fireteam who had come with him was below, split amongst the refugees, taking care of them. Athena had insisted Delphi rest, but there was something he needed a better look at, first.

He turned his gaze away from the Farm and past Hawthorne, toward the massive, jagged, shape in the distance. Athena appeared, settling on his shoulder rather than try to float.

"Whoa, is that...?" she asked.

"A piece of the Traveler," Hawthorne said, following his gaze. "And the reason this place is a dead zone."

"Why?" Athena asked.

Hawthorne shrugged. "It's dangerous. It attracts Fallen."

"That's where I need to go," Delphi said.

"What?" Athena asked. "She just said it was dangerous. We don't have Light. If you… I can't bring you back."

Delphi moved to the railing, bracing himself, eyes closing briefly at another spasm. "I didn't tell you," he said, when it had passed. "After I fell… I had a vision. The last thing the Traveler showed me. I saw Louis and… shadows. And _that_ ," he said, pointing to the shard. "Following Louis got us here. Whatever the Traveler wants me to do… the next step is there."

"You can't leave," Hawthorne said sharply, looking at him. "I need people to protect the Farm."

Delphi looked at her. "Without Light, I'm—"

"Useless," Hawthorne said, annoyed. "This is my problem with Guardians. You're so high and mighty until you lose your precious Light—"

"How dare you!" Athena snapped, lifting off his shoulder and fluffing her shell out in offense. "Guardians are doing their best right now. We've all just lost _everything_ you don't get to talk to us like you're so much better than us—"

Delphi put a gentle hand on his Ghost, quieting her. Hawthorne stared at her.

"I'm sorry," Delphi said. "What I meant is that I live in a very tenuous partnership with the things the Vex have done to me. Without Light, it is slowly taking over. If I completely lose control, I'll either die or become dangerous to those around me. I would rather be alone when that happens, rather than risk hurting anyone. As it is, right now, I'm in far too much pain to be any use in a fight."

He gestured down at the others. "You have Guardians that are perfectly capable without their Light. Your Farm will be better off without me."

Hawthorne was quiet for a moment and then nodded. "When you put it that way, I can't help but agree with you." Athena made another annoyed noise, almost a growl. "Take one of the ships. You'll be able to get closer."

She brushed past him and stalked down the stairs. Delphi stood still for a moment, looking toward the shard.

"Well… that could have gone better."

"Whatever," Athena said. "She has no idea what she's talking about."

"There are two sides to every story," Delphi said, giving her a look. She returned an impressive glare for a Ghost. He shrugged. "Let's go. I'm not sure how much more time I have."

* * *

"Do you feel it?"

Delphi took a step toward the shard, watching Athena as she floated up to it, still struggling to keep herself up. His legs shook and gave out and he collapsed, hitting the ground with a pained grunt. He curled in on himself, just trying to endure the burning in his nerves.

"The Light is—Delphi!" Athena exclaimed as she turned. She darted down to him, shoving herself under his hand, trying to lift it up. "Come on, you can make it."

He pushed himself up slightly, forcing himself to move against the pain. He stood and stumbled, tripping over unresponsive legs, and smacked into the shard. As soon as he touched it, Light swarmed out, surrounding him and slamming into him. It flooded his system, chasing the Vex nanites back down where they belonged, briefly filling his mind with song before it faded, falling silent again.

But he could feel it. Athena darted in front of him, laughing, her shell no longer dragging her down.

"It's back! That's why the Traveler led us here! To give you your Light back!"

"We can help now," Delphi said, beaming, energized by the massive amount of Light surging through him. It felt different than it had before. Brighter. Yet his mind was still silent. "We can find the Speaker."

She laughed again, lightly. "Let's start by heading back to the Farm..."


	12. The Red War

"Well, lookee here. You got your Light back!"

Delphi smiled as he met Hawthorne, walking back into the Farm. He wondered, briefly, how she could tell. Something in his posture, or how Athena was floating, or perhaps just the fact that he had made it out of the Dark Forest alive. She returned the smile.

"I'm glad," she said, sounding sincere. "We're gonna need it."

"Oh, _now_ you want our help, hm?" Athena asked, still sounding prickly.

"Athena," Delphi said quietly. He looked at Hawthorne. "I apologize for her," and he shot his Ghost a look. "I think, perhaps, we were all very stressed out and tempers were running short."

"Right..." Hawthorne sighed. "I am sorry, for what it's worth," she said, shrugging and seeming uncomfortable.

"You had good reason to be frustrated, just as Guardians have good reason to be struggling," Delphi said. "Let's put it behind us. If we're going to survive we need to work together."

Hawthorne nodded. "I agree. Which is why I have a favor to ask, now that you're all immortal again. There are still a lot of people in danger. We need to get the word out that the Farm is a safe haven. I sent a friend into the EDZ not long ago to set up a comm network. Do you think you could go check on him?"

Delphi hesitated and it must have shown on his face.

"Did you have another plan?" Hawthorne asked.

"I..." Delphi was reluctant to voice it. He sighed. "I wanted to look for the Speaker. Now that I have my Light back, I have a chance at getting on the command ship—"

"How?" Hawthorne asked.

"I don't—"

"You don't know. Exactly. You have your Light back. That means _hope_ for these people, for your fellow Guardians. You have the chance to save so many lives, is it really worth _one_?"

"The Speaker's not—"

"Not a Guardian," Hawthorne interrupted. "So what are the chances he's even still alive? What makes you think the Cabal took him, instead of just killing him?"

"I don't know! Why are the Cabal doing anything? Why did they cage the Traveler? I _know_ he's alive, I _have_ to find him!" Delphi exclaimed, feeling oddly lightheaded the more worked up he got.

"Whoa..." Athena murmured, moving away from him. Hawthorne stepped back as well. Delphi looked at his hands, finding Light almost sublimating off his skin.

"What's happening?" he asked, panicking. "Athena?"

"I don't know," she said. "Just try to calm down." She moved in between him and Hawthorne, putting herself in his view. "Deep breaths. You're all right. Try to focus on your Light, see what's causing it to act up."

Delphi closed his eyes, trying to focus inward. It was harder, now, without the Traveler's voice. He hadn't realized that he relied on it. His Light was boiling over, reacting to his stress, but he wasn't sure how to suppress it again.

"What's going on?" a new voice asked. Ammit-4. "You have your Light back," she said, sounding pleased.

Delphi opened his eyes, looking at the exo as she approached. Her Ghost, nestled in the collar of her robe, watched him. As she got close, the Ghost flew out ahead of her, curious. The strands of Light leeching off Delphi seemed to almost reach out to him and Delphi lifted a hand to the Ghost. The Ghost yelped in surprise as the Light slammed into him and he startled back, smacking into his Guardian. Some of the excess Light drained out of Delphi and he wavered, steadied from behind by Mau.

Ammit's Ghost twirled his shell, eye brighter, no longer struggling to hold himself up. Light flashed around the exo and she staggered and then clenched her fist, summoning a few wisps of Void.

"How did you...?" she asked, looking toward Delphi.

"I don't… know," he said, stunned. Had he just… given the exo her Light back? How was that even possible?

"Can you do it again?" Mau asked and Delphi found that Medjay was looking at him too, both with hope in their eyes.

"I… uh..." He smiled nervously. "I have no idea how I just did that, I'm sorry."

Mau pulled out her dormant Ghost, holding it out. "Can you try?"

Delphi carefully took the Ghost into his hands. The excess Light had gone, leaving him feel a bit tired, but he tried to summon it back up. He closed his eyes, reaching inward, trying to dip into that pool of Light. He opened his eyes to find that nothing had happened. His shoulders fell slightly and he handed the Ghost back to Mau.

"I'm sorry."

She held her Ghost close for a moment before tucking it back away into her armor. "It's okay," she said, shrugging. She turned and walked away, quickly followed by Medjay.

"Well," Ammit said after a moment. "What's the plan?"

"I… suppose… going to the EDZ to help with the comms," Delphi said, slowly.

Hawthorne nodded. "His name's Devrim Kay."

"I will come with you," Ammit decided. "There are many Guardians here now and with my Light back, I would be more useful in the field."

Delphi nodded, glad for the company.

"Keep in touch," Hawthorne said, handing over a tablet with a map of the EDZ on it and information about where they could find Devrim. Ammit took the tablet and gestured to Delphi, heading toward the field where the jumpship could pick them up. Delphi took a steadying breath and followed her, wishing he could take a moment to rest before jumping back into this, but he supposed the end of the world wasn't going to give him time to recover.


	13. The Red War II

Delphi fidgeted, waiting for the ship to get close enough to the landing pad for Zavala and Sloane to transmat out. Ammit, next to him, was inhumanly still as usual. He had no idea what was going on in her head. She had no eyes, and, as such, it was difficult to read her expressions, but she also seemed to constantly maintain a spirited optimism and a demeanor that reminded Delphi of the Crucible handler. Though, he hadn't known Shaxx very well. The Speaker had sent him for training a few times in the Crucible, but otherwise he had tried to stay as far away from it as he could.

At the thought of the Speaker, Delphi fidgeted again, frustrated. He was wasting time. He didn't see why he was bothering to clear out the tidal anchors when what needed to happen was for Zavala to return to Earth. They were already building the resistance at the Farm and that's where the Vanguard should be. Not on Titan.

The two titans transmatted down and Zavala looked at him curiously and then to Ammit, as Sloane hurried inside, giving them both a friendly nod.

"I didn't dare believe… How did the Light find its way back to you?" he asked.

"The Traveler led me to a shard it had cast off during the Collapse," Delphi said, quietly, not liking the way Zavala was looking at him. It wasn't awe, exactly, but it was close enough to make him uncomfortable. Zavala already knew him as the one who had predicted Andal's death, and now he had come back to the City right as the City fell, only to be the first Guardian to reclaim his Light. He didn't want any legends being built about him.

"And he," Ammit said, looking toward Delphi, "gave me mine."

"You _gave_ someone Light?" Zavala asked. "Only the Traveler can do that."

Delphi shrugged. "Before you ask, I don't know how I did it and I can't seem to do it again."

"Well… no matter. Two Guardians with Light is better than none. It's enough to give me hope for the rest of us."

And then, before Delphi could argue, Zavala was having him and Ammit clear the Hive out of the wave converters. He followed the exo, though she didn't need backup—if he was being honest she was somewhat terrifying to watch in combat.

Once the power was back up, Ammit went on her own to secure a computer for Zavala and Sloane to decrypt some Red Legion transmissions. Zavala held Delphi back from that mission, expressing a wish to speak with him. Delphi found himself a chair and righted it, sitting down and stretching his leg, trying in vain to rid his muscles of the ache. At least the leg that was fully Vex didn't hurt so often.

Zavala leaned on the table nearby, looking at him, somewhat concerned.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "After Andal… You just vanished. The Speaker said nothing about it."

"I… needed to find something," Delphi said, shrugging. He rapped his knuckles lightly on his leg. "I didn't find it." He looked at Zavala, frowning. "That's not what you wanted to ask me about."

"No, it's not. I wanted to ask you about the Traveler. I won't pretend to know your relationship with it, but I know you're a Speaker. What does it have to say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"It can't," Delphi said. "I had a vision before I escaped the City that led me to the shard, but beyond that it's been silent. Absolutely silent. It was… scared. It wanted to run or… it wanted me to run. But now I can't feel anything. Whatever they used to cage the Light has cut off my connection to the Traveler."

Zavala looked away, trying to hide his disappointment.

"I'm sorry," Delphi said. "I'm sure the Speaker would have something comforting to say, some wisdom to share, but… I don't know how to make this situation seem hopeful."

They fell into somewhat awkward silence, waiting until Ammit returned.

* * *

"Here we go," Delphi said, trotting up to the Vex teleporter. He ran a hand around the edge, deactivating it and disconnecting it from the network as he took control. Vex controls were mostly telepathic. It sometimes made him uncomfortable how easily he could use them, but he tried not to think about it.

After they had deciphered the Red Legion communications and learned of the Almighty, Ammit had returned to Earth with Zavala, to help build the resistance and defend the refugees. She had expressed a worry about leaving Hawthorne so soon after promising to help her. Delphi, meanwhile, had agreed to find Cayde and Ikora for Zavala. He had only agreed to it out of a spiteful hope to get a chance to tell them off for leaving in the first place.

He certainly hadn't expected to find Vex on Nessus but they were hardly a hurdle.

A portal opened and Cayde dropped out of it with a startled noise. He scrambled to his feet and looked at Delphi as the warlock picked the teleporter up, tucking it securely under his arm. He looked Delphi over, eyes narrowing slightly.

"So it's true… the Light found its way back to you."

"In a way," Delphi said, wondering how Cayde knew. The way he said it sounded like he had heard it over radio chatter. Were people talking about him?

"Not that I'm jealous or nothin'..." Cayde muttered. "Do I know you?" he asked.

"I don't think we were ever introduced. I'm Delphi."

"Oh, right. The Speaker's apprentice. The one who disappeared after Andal died."

Delphi tensed, frowning. "Why were you going after a Vex teleporter, instead of doing your duty as Vanguard and protecting the refugees?" he asked sharply.

"Because said Vex teleporter is gonna let me get up close and personal with Ghaul."

"Not this one," Delphi said. "It's short range. You'll have to get close to the ship to use it and you don't even have Light."

"Like you have a better plan."

"I don't, but Zavala does. He needs you."

Cayde rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Zavala always _says_ he has a plan, but—wait. _Zavala_ said he needs me? As in you actually heard those words come out of his mouth?"

"Yes."

" _Please_ tell me you recorded it!"

Delphi blinked and Cayde's shoulders fell.

"Well did Ikora at least hear it?"

"I have no idea where Ikora is," Delphi said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "She ran off just like you did. Reliable Vanguard the City has," he muttered.

Cayde ignored that, looking away thoughtfully. "Io. It's… where she'd go to find answers."

"Io? You must be joking..."

* * *

Cayde hadn't been joking.

To Delphi's relief, he found Ikora quickly. She was standing on a cliffside, overlooking some of the strange terraformed land the Traveler had left when it had touched Io. It looked familiar and Delphi, briefly, remembered his vision. He had seen this place, shortly before he'd seen the shadows. But it wasn't just that. He felt the oddest sense of deja vu and had what felt like a memory of him standing here a long time ago. Before Light. Before Athena. Before he had died.

Delphi forced himself to shake it off and walk over to Ikora's side.

"In all the places I've been in all the years since my rebirth, this is where I return. The last place the Traveler touched. I came for answers. I stand here still with nothing," she said as he came to stand next to her. "You speak for the Traveler. What does it have to say about all of this?"

"I speak for no one but myself," Delphi replied. "And the Traveler can't speak right now. In case you'd forgotten, it's been muzzled."

She looked at him sharply. "How could I have forgotten?"

"I'm not sure, but I think you must have, otherwise you would be doing your job," Delphi said harshly. "Tell me, what is the point of a Vanguard if not to defend against the end of the world? What is the point of a Vanguard if not to stand united and give hope to those who rely on them? If we were all relying on the Traveler this entire time, then why even _have_ a Vanguard?"

Ikora narrowed her eyes. "You speak as if it's so easy. You Speakers hear it directly—"

"Sorry, were you under the impression that the Speaker never lied?" Delphi interrupted. "Allow me to elucidate you, Ikora. The Speaker was a liar. He lied every second of every day to everyone in that City. The Traveler wasn't watching over any of us, but he knew what you needed to hear and he told you with a smile in his voice as he lied through his teeth. _That_ is your job. I don't care if there isn't hope in this situation. Your and Cayde and Zavala's job, just as it was the Speaker's, is to dredge hope up out of the abyss and _act_ like you believe your own words. Instead, you all scattered to the wind and left _me_ to pick up the pieces and build a resistance when all I want to be doing is looking for _him_."

She stared at him, taken aback, her eyes alight with anger. It had begun to chase away the despair in her gaze but it wasn't enough. He needed to push her a little farther. Before she could argue, he pointed to the pool of Light in the strange formations.

"That isn't going to give you answers. The Traveler isn't here and even if it was it wouldn't answer you. The universe doesn't care about any of us and it will never hand us anything. You want answers? You need to find them in yourself."

"How _dare_ you stand here and lecture me about running away," Ikora began.

"I dare because I've been where you are and I know what I'm talking about," Delphi said. "I've been scared and desperate to find answers. Yes, I ran away. And I regret it every day. I came here, too, looking for answers. Do you know what I found? Brakion." He stepped back, exhaling and trying to compose himself. "Our answers aren't _without_ , Ikora, they are _within_. And as angry as you are at me right now, I have been that angry at myself, but I wish someone had told me this years ago. Maybe then I would have been there—"

He faltered and Ikora's gaze softened just slightly. She looked away.

"Then what would you suggest?" she asked.

"There's a resistance," Delphi said, relieved. "Zavala and Cayde sent me to find you to join them."

"What good is a resistance when you are the only one who would survive?"

"Do you really believe the Light is the only thing that made you a Guardian?" Delphi asked. Before she could reply, the ground shook violently. Delphi grunted, grabbing his head as a discordant shriek rang through his mind.

"The Traveler's energy!" Ikora exclaimed. Delphi followed her gaze to the Light filling up the sky. "What are they doing?!"

* * *

Delphi put Ikora between himself and the Pyramidion as they went to meet Asher Mir, the warlock who had commandeered their comms when the Taken had begun to show up. He felt a bit sick being so close to it again, so he focused his gaze on Asher as the warlock came into view. He wasn't paying them any attention, working on something outside the cave where Delphi had spent nearly a month recovering.

Immediately, he was taken by curiosity and excitement. He quickened his pace, trotting up to Asher. Asher looked up.

"You—" he started, irritated, and then broke off, staring at Delphi's legs.

"You too?" Delphi asked, looking at Asher's arm.

Without preamble, Asher grabbed his face, twisting it this way and that as he peered at him. "To far less of an extent as you, it would seem. How are you alive?"

"Let him go, Asher," Ikora said. "We have more important things to discuss."

"To you, perhaps," Asher groused, letting Delphi go. He sighed. "There are remains of an old interplanetary defense network here. It will be of use to assess the Almighty's defenses for Commander… Whomever's so-called plan. In the meantime, I won't waste valuable research opportunities," he said, eyeing Delphi in a way that made him nervous.

"You will be my assistant."


	14. The Red War III

The halls were empty.

Delphi ran, metallic footsteps echoing loudly as his breathing grew heavier and his hope dwindled. He opened door after door, finding signs of Cabal but no one left. Ammit's ploy had worked, drawing their attention to her as she had gone to confront Ghaul. That was reassuring, in a way, as Delphi didn't really want to have to fight his way through Cabal. But he wasn't looking for Cabal.

He had found a brig. He had found what he assumed to be Ghaul's personal quarters. And he had found no sign of the Speaker.

He reached the end of the hall and unlocked the door to the bridge.

What he saw first was the Traveler. The ship faced it and it nearly filled the windows at the fore, still caged and silent. He tore his gaze away and it fell upon a dead Cabal up the slight ramp to the windows. He frowned. Who else had been here? He walked toward it, lifting his gaze to examine the strange device hanging from the ceiling. Before he could divine its purpose, he rounded the consoles and spotted the unmoving human figure on the floor near the Cabal.

Delphi gasped and sprinted the remaining few meters to his side, skidding to a halt in a crouch. The Speaker's eyes were closed, his breathing shallow, and blood dripped from his mouth. Delphi gently rolled him onto his back and the Speaker stirred, eyes opening slowly. Delphi took his helmet off as the Speaker looked up, struggling to focus on him.

"Delphi...?" he asked faintly.

"Shh," Delphi said. "You need to save your strength. They're setting up a transmat beacon, you just have to hold on... There are medics..." His voice wavered and he stopped, trying to keep a calm face.

The Speaker reached up, grabbing Delphi's shoulder, trying to pull himself up. Delphi helped him sit, resting in Delphi's lap, leaning back against his knee so he could see the Traveler. He let out a shaky breath.

"Don't blame yourself for this," he said softly, voice strained.

"How could I not?" Delphi asked. "I should have been there."

"If you had, you would be dead," the Speaker murmured. "I knew this storm was coming and I… wanted you as far from it as possible."

"But you're—" he broke off, turning his head away, unable to say it. _Dying_. All the time he had spent in the Tower, surrounded by immortal beings, he had often forgotten that the Speaker wasn't.

"Everything… has it's time," he replied, breath labored. He coughed, leaving blood on his glove.

Delphi had many things he wanted to say, apologies he wanted to make. The Speaker would tell him it wasn't his fault. So Delphi said nothing, just laid his forehead against the Speaker's shoulder and cried. A hand took his, holding it tightly.

And then Delphi felt something. Pressure behind his eyes, a song welling up in his mind. Not a song. A scream. A scream of rage and defiance and fear. He felt his Light building and shook his head.

"Not right now," he gasped. "Please."

"Delphi..." the Speaker said and Delphi looked at him, finding the Speaker looking back in awe. Light reflected in his eyes before they glanced away, out the window, and widened further. Delphi followed his gaze and saw cracks of light webbing their way up the Traveler, breaking through the cage that surrounded it.

Delphi stared at it. " _I am awake_ ," he said, a voice that was not his own crawling out of his throat in a hoarse whisper.

The pressure in his head was building, bile rising in his stomach as every muscle clenched, every nerve lit aflame with the Light. He fought it, barely holding back a scream, trying to stay where he was, holding tightly to the Speaker. A faint smile crossed his lips and his eyes closed as he slumped back against Delphi, exhaling once more.

The Light burst through the cage and Delphi screamed as everything went white.

* * *

"It's coming. It's coming. You have to run. I want to run. Not again. Run. Run. RUN!"

Ikora jumped slightly as the warlock screamed, sitting bolt upright. He had been chattering since Ammit had brought him back from the ship, unresponsive to everything around him. The medics had done all they could and come to the conclusion that they could do nothing. His vitals were normal but his Light was off the charts and neither he, nor his Ghost, could seem to hear anything, or at least they couldn't react.

She looked over at him and found the glow had gone from his eyes, though the veins of it remained on his skin, fainter, but brighter than his normal Awoken glow. He was breathing hard. A moment later, his Ghost appeared.

"Delphi? Are you okay? What happened?"

He held up a hand, silencing her while he caught his breath. He swallowed. "I don't… I don't know..." He looked around and spotted Ikora, relaxing as he realized he was safe.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, walking over.

"Dizzy…"

Ikora sat on the edge of the cot. "You've been… well, I'm not sure I would call in unconscious, since Ammit brought you back."

"I… think I blacked out when the Traveler woke up. It was just… too much." There was something in his gaze that Ikora recognized after spending so much time around other warlocks. A question on the tip of his tongue. He looked away and saw the Speaker's mask on a nearby table. His eyes widened.

"Ammit found both of you… but she was too late. I'm sorry."

Delphi shook his head. "He was… he was dying when I found him. There wouldn't have been enough time." He looked away.

"I'll leave you to rest," Ikora said after a moment, standing up and ducking out of the tent, going to rejoin Zavala and Cayde with Hawthorne and Ammit at the planning table.

In the hours that had followed the Traveler waking, the Guardians had regained their Light and chased the remaining Cabal from the City. They were still patrolling the streets, unwilling to let any civilians start to come back until they were certain it was safe. When Ikora had left to check on Delphi, her fireteam had been discussing how to start the rebuilding effort. Even with every Guardian back at full Light, it would take years to completely restore the City.

As she entered the building where they had set up their makeshift office, everyone looked at her.

"How is he?" Ammit asked. Ikora thought the exo Warlord had become somewhat fond of Delphi during the Red War, though it was difficult to tell.

"Awake," Ikora said. "I don't believe he remembers any of what he said, though it mostly seemed to focus on running."

"Hm," Zavala said. "We will remain vigilant, but until he can tell us more we should focus on the City."

Ikora nodded, stepping forward to see what they had come up with in her absence.

They talked for an hour more before there was a light knock on the empty doorframe. Ikora turned, surprised to see Delphi. He had put his robes back on and was seeming far steadier than last she had seen him. The patterns of Light painting his skin seemed to be permanent. A consequence of the Traveler being awake? she wondered.

"Hi," he said quietly, avoiding all of their eyes. He stepped up to the table and held out the Speaker's mask. "You should have this."

"Keep it," Ikora said and the others nodded. "To remember him."

"I don't need help remembering him," Delphi said. "The only thing this is going to bring me is guilt."

Zavala took it from him after a moment. "Now that you're here, you should be involved in the rebuilding plans," he said. Delphi looked at him, somewhat surprised.

"Why?"

"With the Speaker… gone," Ikora said, "you are the closest thing he had to a replacement."

"The Traveler's awake, it doesn't need a Speaker anymore," Delphi argued. "I can't replace him."

"Speakers have existed since the Golden Age," Ikora replied. "I'm sure, now that it's awake, the Traveler will choose more to hear its voice, but in the meantime the City needs its guidance."

"And you want it from _me_?" Delphi asked. He looked between each of them, searching for a hint of a 'no'. When he didn't find one, he let out a frustrated noise and left.

After a moment, Cayde followed.

He found Delphi sitting on a ledge, staring up at the Traveler.

"What's it sayin'?" Cayde asked, sitting down next to him.

"Uh… it says 'Cayde leave my oracle alone, he doesn't want to talk to you'," Delphi said, in a mystic sort of voice.

Cayde laughed. "Fair enough, but you don't have to talk. I think I know how ya feel. A bit like you lost a bet, huh?"

Delphi looked at him, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"About how I felt when I lost the Dare and had to be the new Vanguard. Feel like the universe has it out for you and under all that you feel like you're not enough. Like you're gonna try to step into those big shoes and fall on your ass." Cayde eyed him. "Am I close?"

Delphi looked away.

"Andal liked you. That itself is enough for me, but I've seen you these past few months. Getting your Light back and kickstarting a resistance. That's pretty damn impressive. The Speaker chose you for a reason and more than that, the Traveler chose you for a reason. You're not just a Speaker, you're a _Guardian._ All I'm sayin' is… you'll probably surprise yourself."

Delphi crossed his arms over his stomach and sighed. "Fine. For now," he said quietly. "And don't call me Speaker. If I do this I'm not… I'm not taking his place."

"How 'bout Oracle, then?" Cayde offered.

Delphi blinked, his gaze unfocusing briefly before he shook himself and nodded.

"Well, then, Oracle, how about we go get something to eat? You've been out cold for hours you gotta be hungry. The ramen shop's not up and running yet, although I might have sneaked it to the top of the list when Zavala wasn't looking, but I'm sure we can scrounge something up..."


	15. Downtime

"It's snowing."

Cayde paused and looked back at Delphi, who had stopped walking and was staring up at the sky. He stepped back and stood next to him, looking up at the heavy, snow laden clouds, and the gently falling flakes.

"How 'bout that," he said. "In the mountains in the winter? Never thought I'd see the day."

Delphi lowered his gaze and gave Cayde an unimpressed look. He sighed, tugging his scarf a little tighter around his neck.

"I just didn't realize it was winter already," he said, starting to walk again.

"Really? The cold didn't tip you off?"

"It's always cold at the top of the Tower," Delphi pointed out. "I told you I haven't been out much. I never realized how much the Speaker actually _did_."

"Hah, welcome to the life, kid," Cayde said. "Always something or someone who needs your attention."

Delphi smiled, glancing sideways at him. "Is that why you dragged me out for dinner? Trying to get away from your own job?"

"Never."

They made their way back to the Tower, stepping into the elevator and heading for the top. A few years had passed since the end of the Red War and the City was still being rebuilt. The Tower was mostly finished, enough for everyone to be having trouble finding their way around and getting used to the new layout. The Vanguard had been particularly busy, coordinating attacks against remaining Cabal.

Delphi, meanwhile, had been kept busy tending to the anxieties of those who had survived the Red War, on top of learning the political duties the Speaker had and trying to keep up with them. Cayde knew he was struggling, trying to adapt to his new position, and that there were things he wasn't telling the Vanguard about the Traveler.

The occasional trip into the City was a small gesture on his part, something to distract Delphi and keep him from being entirely overwhelmed.

They stepped out into the cold at the top of the Tower and Cayde walked with him back to his rooms. They had been built to Delphi's specifications—oddly not facing the Traveler, but rather the mountains in the other direction.

"It's very gentlemanly of you to walk me back to my room after our date, but I assure you I do remember how to get there," Delphi said.

Cayde laughed. "Just making sure, you did drink an awful lot."

"You're starting to sound like Athena," Delphi said, and then halted, staring at his door. Cayde looked at him and then followed his gaze and realized he was actually staring at the small pile of Dawning presents outside his door.

"Ah, didn't realize Guardians had already started," Cayde commented. "Bet I got more cookies than you."

Delphi was quiet for a moment and then inhaled shakily. "I doubt if they're for me." He carefully stepped around the presents to open his door.

"They're outside your door," Cayde pointed out.

"It's their first Dawning without the Speaker," Delphi said quietly. Not entirely true, the City had tried to celebrate a little during the rebuilding, but this would be the first the Guardians really took part in, distanced enough from the horror to feel a little hope. He went inside and left his door open as it usually was, evidently planning on leaving the presents where they were.

Cayde crouched and flipped a tag over, then another, and another. He read them outloud. "Let's see… 'To: The Oracle' 'To: Delphi' 'To: Oracle'. This one says 'To: The Traveler' I have to assume that's a mistake unless there's something you're not telling us."

He gathered the gifts up and went inside when he got no reply from Delphi. He had stopped to listen to Cayde and was now watching him, clearly confused, as he placed the gifts on the table. He walked over and examined the tags, and then said, "Oh," very quietly.

Delphi sat down at the table, staring at the gifts seeming unsure what to do.

"You should open 'em," Cayde said. "Guardians usually make cookies, so they're perishable. Usually. Some Guardians are really bad bakers. I've gotten stuff with Vex milk in it before… although… that might not actually hurt you. Have you ever tried it? I've always kinda wondered what it tasted like."

Delphi didn't reply and Cayde looked more closely at him, realizing he was tearing up.

"All right, no one's allowed to be that sad on the Dawning, what's going on?" Cayde asked, pulling a chair around to sit down next to him.

"I… I didn't realize..." Delphi faltered.

"You kidding? You've been here for everyone since the Cabal attacked. You really think people wouldn't notice?"

"I thought they'd resent me," Delphi mumured. "I have no idea what I'm doing. There's no world in which I'm qualified to take over for the Speaker."

"You gotta stop comparing yourself to him," Cayde said. "What was the point of coming up with a new title and everything if you're just gonna keep calling yourself the Speaker?"

"Oh we all know that's nothing," Delphi said. "I just couldn't stomach people calling me Speaker. Doesn't change what I am." He tipped his head back, trying to use gravity to keep from crying. "I really wish the Traveler had never chosen me."

"You'd be dead," Cayde said, opening one of his presents.

"Not necessarily. Awoken live a long time."

"Yeah, well, you can't time travel, so what's the point in agonizing over it?" Cayde asked. "Here, these don't smell like Vex milk." He held out a cookie.

"You don't have a nose," Delphi said quietly, taking the cookie and nibbling on it.

"Don't rub it in."

Delphi smiled. "I think I'm going to cry now, so I'd prefer if you left for that, but… thanks."

Cayde stood up, patting him on the shoulder. "Happy Dawning, kid."

As he started to leave, Delphi spoke up again.

"Cayde."

Cayde turned.

"It, uh… tastes like carbonated milk and lemon juice," Delphi said. "And it made my tongue numb for like a week."

Cayde stared at him and Delphi shrugged.

"I got curious," he mumbled and Cayde burst into laughter.

* * *

"I think you should get a cat."

Delphi looked up at his Ghost. "Why?"

Athena shifted her shell. "I think you need a hobby," she said. "Something to occupy you that isn't listening to every Guardian talk about their concerns. That can't be good for your mental health."

"I have hobbies," Delphi said defensively.

"Name one, little goblin, I'm with you every second of the day."

"I… have… a very extensive tea collection," Delphi said slowly.

"That's a problem not a hobby."

"A cat isn't a hobby either," Delphi said.

"That's fair but there is one that keeps trying to get in your window," Athena said, looking toward the door just as a light tapping noise came from the other room.

"Spooky," he commented.

"Not really, it's been doing that all morning you just haven't been paying attention," Athena said.

Delphi got up, walking into his study and over to the window. He opened it and leaned out, finding a small cat in the hall outside. It was light brown and covered in stripes and looking up at him with large green eyes.

"Hi," he said.

"Mrrp," it replied.

"I'll leave the window open, you can come in if you want. Just don't let anyone else in, it's my day off."

He went back to his tea and his book, settling back down into the nest of cushions by the window. Athena tucked herself into his blanket and it only took a few moments before the cat came over and made itself a bed next to him, purring loudly.

"I guess I have a cat now," Delphi said.

"It'll be good for you," Athena said. "Something to take care of and keep you busy. Since you decided to stop looking for your sister I think you've been a bit lost."

"I never said I wasn't looking for my sister anymore," Delphi replied.

"You didn't have to. If you were, we'd be out there right now, wouldn't we?"

"I haven't given up," Delphi said sharply. He'd been busy, that was all. He had promised the Vanguard he'd stay until they found a new Speaker. But Athena had a point. He'd broken promises before and he knew the Vanguard were all surprised he had stayed this long.

"That's not what I said," Athena murmured. "Deciding to stay isn't the same as giving up."

Delphi sighed, marking his page and setting his book aside. He reached over and petted the cat, who started purring again. "I still haven't decided if I want to stay or not," he admitted. "But… the Tower is starting to feel like home."

His Ghost nuzzled her shell against his cheek and he smiled.

"I'm proud of you, you know," she said. "I know I don't say it much, but you've grown so much since we first met. Whatever you decide, I'll be there."

"I know." Delphi looked down at the cat as it got up and climbed up into his lap, curling up again. "I guess I really do have a cat now."

Athena laughed. "You should name her."

"Hm… Artemis."


	16. Last Call

"Hey, Oracle!"

Delphi straightened up and turned as Cayde trotted up to join him at the railing, looking out over the City. "Why are you in such a hurry?" he asked.

"Got a call, there's some trouble at the Prison of Elders. Petra wants help quelling the riot, you in?"

"Why me?" Delphi asked, leaning back against the railing and crossing his arms.

Cayde laughed lightly. "When's the last time you left the City?"

"Uh…" Delphi thought about that for a moment. "Helping Osiris," he said. It had been a while. The only reason he'd gotten involved with that was because he'd recognized Sagira on Ikora's desk and she'd told him what had happened. He had stayed far away from everything happening on Mars in the meantime.

"Mhm, mhm, and I can see that look on your face," Cayde said. "I see it on a Hunter every other day. You're itching to get back out there, aren't ya?"

Delphi smiled. "I made a decision to stop chasing ghosts, Cayde. My place is here."

The exo simulated a heavy sigh. "Fine, fine, if you wanna be boring. I'll just tell Petra you couldn't make it." He turned away, starting to walk back the way he'd come.

"Petra… Wait." Cayde turned back. "Petra Venj?" Delphi asked. "The Queen's liaison?"

"Not anymore, but that's her, yeah. You know her?"

Delphi exhaled. "No, but…" He faltered. Athena had once mentioned Petra as a possible connection to his past. He knew he had some connection to Mara Sov. Perhaps she knew who he was. But what had he just said? That he would stop chasing ghosts.

He hesitated and looked up at the Traveler. He closed his eyes and listened, wondering if it had anything to say. || danger || Fallen barking. A yelping alarm. An explosion of Light. His own voice, panicked, but he couldn't understand what he was saying. And then… a face. A voice. His name.

Delphi opened his eyes, shaken. The Traveler's replies had been more cohesive since it had awoken, but still largely unparsable until they came to fruition, if things even happened the way it foresaw. Whatever was going to happen, it didn't seem like it was going to end well. But that face. His own face. Gold eyes wide with disbelief.

He looked at Cayde again, who seemed to guess his decision, lights glowing in his cheeks in a smile.

"I'm coming with you."

* * *

When they transmatted down into the Prison of Elders, Petra was waiting for them. She was an Awoken woman, dressed in familiar corsair armor, with more embellishment than Delphi's old set had. She smiled when she saw them.

"Petra Venj," Cayde greeted. "Thanks for the invite."

She nodded. "Good to see you, Cayde. Who's your friend?"

Delphi took his helmet off and smiled. "Nice to meet you. I'm Delphi, Oracle of the Traveler."

"Haver of Fancy Titles," Cayde added.

Petra tilted her head slightly and then Delphi saw her restrain an expression. Recognition flooded her gaze and she tamped it down quickly. "Oracle, huh?"

"Speaker, basically," Delphi said.

"But also a capable Guardian, or I wouldn't have brought him," Cayde said.

"I'm sure." Petra gestured toward the door. "Right now, gen-pop is running wild. Fortunately, the main arena and lower levels remain on lockdown. But if the core security systems fail, containment is going to be… a problem."

"Just another day at the office," Cayde said, and Petra smiled with a slight nod. She turned, starting to head in.

_[ Ask her, before you forget. ]_

"Petra," Delphi said, catching up to her and putting his helmet on, drawing his gun before they headed in. "I had a question for you, before we get started."

She looked at him. "I… think I can guess what it is. Listen, I _can_ answer it, but it's not a short answer. Help me secure this place and I'll answer any questions you have."

"But, I… Okay," Delphi agreed. "One quick one, then, is she still alive?" He could feel Cayde's curious gaze on him, as the Hunter realized Delphi had an ulterior motive for being here.

"Your sister?" Petra asked, and he nodded. "Yes, she is."

* * *

Delphi ran, leaving movement up to instinct as his mind raced. How much time had passed since that burst of Light, since he had felt Sundance die? He'd had no contact from Cayde or Petra. Comms were down and Cayde was alone, without his Ghost. He knew the Hunter could handle himself but without a Ghost he was officially on borrowed time.

He fought his way through another chamber of corrupted Fallen, already trying to force his way through the next door as the last one fell. It was locked.

_[ Let me— ]_

"No," Delphi said. Until he knew what had killed Sundance, he wasn't letting Athena out. Instead he held out a hand, summoning up and briefly awakening the dormant Vex consciousness in his system. He manipulated it, using the tactics Osiris had helped him perfect, and opened a portal. He ran through, closing it behind him, and sprinted down the hall, skidding to a halt as he realized what he was seeing.

 _Uldren?_ he thought, and then wondered how he knew that. His gaze flicked to Cayde on the ground in front of him and he lifted his gun. Uldren smiled.

"He didn't feel a thing," he said, lifting Cayde's gun tauntingly.

It was a perfect shot. The doors closed agonizingly slowly and Delphi was frozen. He had a shot. Why wasn't he taking it?

The doors closed, cutting him off from Uldren and he snapped out of it, dropping his gun and sprinting the last few steps to Cayde. He dropped to his side, relieved to see him still alive. He ripped his helmet off and threw it aside, examining the wound in the middle of Cayde's chest.

"How's… how's my hair?" Cayde asked, his voice too quiet, too staticky.

"Just hold on," Delphi said. "Athena—"

She appeared next to him and took a quick scan. "There's… nothing I can do," she said.

"Try to get a lock on the ship," Delphi said. "If we can get him back to the Tower, maybe… maybe..." He faltered as reality hit him.

"I'll try," Athena said softly, floating up a bit to try and get a better signal. Delphi knew she wouldn't be able to reach their ship this far down.

"Listen, kid..." Cayde said, weakly.

"No," Delphi said. "Athena can't help but maybe there's something I can do." He put his hands on Cayde's chest, closing his eyes and trying to focus, willing his own overabundance of Light to well up, trying to take ahold of Cayde's and give it guidance. He knew nothing would happen, but he wasn't willing to admit it. He sat back, exhaling, as he accomplished little more than exhausting himself.

"No..." he hissed. "I'm not killing another Hunter Vanguard."

Cayde managed a laugh. "Unless you're… Fallen and also Uldren Sov, you didn't... kill either of us. Listen to me. This ain't on you."

"If I had been faster—"

"I was dead the… the second Sundance was. This ain't on you. This is… this is what I get for playing nice." He seemed almost to be struggling for breath he didn't need as his systems failed. "You… you tell Zavala and Ikora.… the Vanguard was the… best bet… I ever… lost..."

His lights went dark.

Delphi stared at him. His breath was shaky. Too loud. His gloves still had ether on them. He had gotten some on Cayde's armor. Why was that the only thing he could think about? Danger. Fallen. A burst of Light. If it wasn't his fault then it was the Traveler's. He couldn't breathe, but he heard his breath escape in a broken sob.

Running footsteps echoed down the hall, slowing, and he heard Petra's voice, softly.

"No..."


End file.
